Why Did North Korea Suddenly Stop Importing From China?
In a strange occurrence, North Korea has suddenly stopped import of Covid-19 prevention and control products from China. It still isn’t out of the woods, but it decided to do the same. While this is the case, Covid-19, according to the local media has been contained within the country. Earlier North Korea was sourcing face masks, thermometers, rubber gloves, ventilators or vaccines from China. Meanwhile the US and South Korea had offered to provide help, including vaccines, but Pyongyang has not responded. Earlier on, North Korea had imported more than 10.6 million masks, nearly 95,000 thermometers and 1,000 non-invasive ventilators from China. This was between January-April of 2022. As the country refuses to share any statistics on this with the world, the WHO has a feeling the cases of infection are much higher in the real sense of the word. It is also worth noting that the exports from China to North Korea has slumped a lot since May. Overall, China’s exports to North Kor...