Munsu Water Park in Pyongyang | Image: NK News (April 2017)
Foreign diplomats in Pyongyang will be able to visit water parks and other sites for the first time since the pandemic began, relaxed government rules seen by NK News show, as North Korea continues to claim COVID-19 cases are trending down.
The country’s maximum emergency anti-epidemic system installed to curb the influx and spread of the virus, however, will remain in effect, according to the text of the rules.
Under the new rules that go into effect this week, diplomats and international staff who remain in Pyongyang can once again visit the central zoo and botanical garden, equestrian club in Mirim, amusement parks, swimming pools and water parks. NK News previously reported that DPRK authorities lifted a sweeping lockdown in the capital late last month.
The relaxation of restrictions means foreigners will be able to enter water parks for the first time since the global COVID-19 outbreak, although the facilities appear to have remained open to local residents.
NK News analysis of the latest GoogleEarth satellite imagery shows that Munsu Water Park in Pyongyang was open until at least May 9, a day before officials imposed a lockdown and ordered residents indoors, according to a source in the city. State media officially reported the country’s COVID-19 outbreak on May 12.
The new DPRK rules also allow expats to visit museums and exhibits in Pyongyang. This comes just days after state media started publicizing mass anti-U.S. propaganda and relevant exhibits for the first time since 2017.
Diplomats who wish to visit the places noted in this week’s new rules should alert North Korea’s foreign ministry in advance and follow quarantine regulations, the text indicates. But NK News understands foreigners are not required to get tested for COVID-19 for such visits, though they must undergo temperature checks and sanitizing.
North Korea raised its anti-epidemic system to “maximum” in early May after announcing its first-known case of the omicron variant, and leader Kim Jong Un ordered lockdowns between regions and units.
But state media began claiming that the country was “successfully overcoming” COVID-19 only weeks later. After lifting the capital’s lockdown last month, authorities appear to have also eased restrictions in other regional cities, state television footage has shown.
North Korea says only one person confirmed to have been infected COVID-19 has died despite reporting around 4.7 million suspected cases, a fatality figure that experts have dismissed as a fabrication.
Since the pandemic began, diplomats and foreign workers in Pyongyang have frequently been subject to virus regulations that require they stay indoors when fine dust is blowing in from China and not play with snow. The DPRK also imposed stronger movement restrictions in response to COVID-19, which drove a massexodusofforeignerspreviously based in the capital.
Only a handful of diplomats remain in Pyongyang, with no foreign U.N. or NGO workers left.
Foreign diplomats in Pyongyang will be able to visit water parks and other sites for the first time since the pandemic began, relaxed government rules seen by NK News show, as North Korea continues to claim COVID-19 cases are trending down.
The country’s maximum emergency anti-epidemic system installed to curb the influx and spread of the virus, however, will remain in effect, according to the text of the rules.
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Jeongmin Kim is the Lead Correspondent at NK News and Editorial Director at KOREA PRO, based in Seoul. Kim covers inter-Korean relations and North and South Korean foreign and military affairs. Kim has covered the 2022 ROK presidential election on the ground, and prior to joining NK News, she worked for the CSIS Korea Chair in Washington D.C. and Reuters news agency’s Seoul bureau.