US Forces: North Korea issues shoot-to-kill orders to prevent COVID
According to the commander of US forces in the South, North Korean authorities have issued shoot-to-kill orders to prevent the coronavirus entering the country from China.
It is believed that the impoverished North, whose crumbling health system would struggle to cope with a major virus outbreak, has not confirmed a single case of the disease that has swept the world since first emerging in China.
Pyongyang had closed its border with China in January to try to prevent contamination, and in July they had raised its state of emergency to the maximum level.
US Forces Korea (USFK) commander Robert Abrams said that the border shutdown had increased demand for smuggled goods, prompting authorities to intervene.
The North introduced a new “buffer zone, one or two kilometers up on the Chinese border,” he said.
“They’ve got North Korean SOF (Special Operations Forces) out there. ... Strike forces, they’ve got shoot-to-kill orders in place.” he informed.
The border closure had effectively “accelerated the effects” of economic sanctions imposed on the North over its nuclear programs, he added, with imports from China plunging 85 percent.
The isolated country is also grappling with the aftermath of Typhoon Maysak. According to the sources, more than 2,000 houses have been destroyed or inundated.
As a result, Abrams did not expect to see any major provocations from Pyongyang in the near future, although he said it might show off a new weapons system at next month’s celebrations of the 75th anniversary of the founding of Kim Jong Un’s ruling party.
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He said, “The regime right now, the military is focused principally on getting their country recovered and to help mitigate the risk of Covid-19,”
“We’re not seeing any indications right now of any sort of lashing out.” He added.
-PTC News
