North Korea steps up anti-Ebola efforts

By Lee Min-hyung

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, with a cane, visits a welfare facility for scientists in South Pyeongan Province, Wednesday. / Yonhap

North Korea has stepped up efforts to fight the spread of the Ebola virus, its state media reported Wednesday.

“We are strengthening the level of disinfection at border areas such as airports or ports, which can be easily exposed to the virus,” said a North Korean official in an interview with the Korean Central Television, the North’s state-controlled TV broadcaster.

This is the first time the North has made an official announcement regarding the deadly disease. The North’s move came after recent reports over Ebola-infected health workers in the United States and Spain, which raised fears that the epidemic is spreading worldwide.

Three West African countries – Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea – have been hit hardest by the disease, but recent cases show that nowhere in the world is fully safe from Ebola.

“Those who travel from West African countries and other Ebola-hit areas should be under medical surveillance for a 21-day incubation period,” the official added.

The North’s official daily, Rodong Shinmun, also mentioned the rising fear of the virus by saying, “more and more countries are enforcing quarantine rules for potential Ebola patients as the virus spreads across the world.”

In addition, a Beijing-based travel agency that specializes in North Korea tourism, Koryo Tours, said that the North had implemented a ban on foreigners from entering the isolated country due to concerns over the virus.

"It is unknown how long this closure will be in effect, and due to the changeable nature of DPRK policy, we are still hopeful we will be able to run the three tours we have scheduled for the remainder of 2014," Reuters quoted Nick Bonner, the co-founder of Koryo Tours, as saying on Thursday.

More than 4,500 people have died of Ebola, and almost 10,000 Ebola-related cases have been recorded as of Oct. 19, according to data from the World Health Organization (WHO) released Wednesday. The exact death toll is expected to be much higher, however.

There have not been any reports of North Koreans infected with the virus.