CHINA SUSPECTS COVID-19 WIND BLOWS IN FROM NORTH KOREA

Authorities in Dandong, a Chinese city that shares a 1,300 km (808 miles) border with North Korea, indicated their suspicion that the wind blown into the city from North Korea has resulted in the spike in their daily Covid-19 cases.
Dandong has been under lockdown since April 26, 2022 and residents were told to stay at home as the city sealed off 41 areas and set 22 places under anti-epidemic control earlier this month.
Authorities also urged residents living by the Yalu River that runs between China and North Korea to close their windows on days with southerly winds, although there is no scientific evidence showing that the Covid-19 virus is able to survive airborne transmission over long distances in outdoor settings without repeated exposure.
Images circulating on Weibo, a popular Chinese social media platform, show purported air measurement instruments that have been set up by authorities along the Yalu River to detect Covid-19.

Source:
Bloomberg
NK News
https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202206/1267330.shtml
https://m.weibo.cn/detail/4776890689126884
https://m.weibo.cn/detail/4776920435132760

CASH REWARDS FOR CHINESE WHISTLEBLOWERS TO REPORT ON CROSS-BORDER ACTIVITIES

Dandong announced a cash reward system to crack down on cross-border smuggling as Covid-19 “continues to spread and mutate”.
The reward system runs from May 31, 2022 to December 31, 2022.
In order to receive cash rewards, one shall report any the following activities to the police: (i) any sea, river or fishing-related illegal acts committed in Dandong; (ii) smuggling by sea in Dandong; (iii) illegal fishing in Dandong; or (iv) any act involving throwing, passing, giving, sending, purchasing or exchanging goods across the barriers at the borders, or picking up goods drifted across the boundary river.
The notice encourages timely reporting by its citizens. In particular, only the first whistleblower would be rewarded if more than one person reports the same incident, unless additional clues are provided by the subsequent whistleblower.

Source:
NK News
https://www.dandong.gov.cn/html/DDSZF/202206/0165400850696438.html

NORTH KOREA ORDERED CITIZENS LIVING ABROAD TO PAY LOYALTY FUNDS TO FINANCE MISSILE TESTS

North Korea imposed “loyalty funds” on trade officials stationed in China. A source in the Chinese city of Dalian told Radio Free Asia that they were ordered to pay $3,000 by the end of July 2022 to offset part of the costs for the ballistic missile tests earlier this month.
According to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, eight missiles were fired from four locations into the sea east of the Korean peninsula.
Loyalty funds are not new to China-based trade officials, as foreign cash has in the past been demanded from Kim Jong-un’s administration, especially during important events such as the military parade held in Pyongyang in April 2022.
“We are well aware that tens of millions of dollars are spent to launch a single missile. But how many ballistic missiles have been launched this year? I can’t quite understand the behavior of the authorities, who waste foreign currency on missile launches and forcibly impose loyalty funds on us,” the source added, “This is the third time the authorities have imposed a loyalty fund on us this year. This first and second time, though, trade had been partially open, so we could at least pay half of the fund. … This time it is not easy because China is on complete lockdown due to the coronavirus.”
Radio Free Asia sources estimated that the government would receive around $3 million from the loyalty funds imposed this time, which is an amount far less than the estimated cost of one missile test.
It is also reported that two North Korean doctors dispatched to work in a hospital in Laos a few years ago were forced to contribute to the loyalty funds. Sources revealed that the North Korean ward is able to earn between $100 and $200 per day on average but is required to pay $3,000 per month to the Pyongyang government, with very little left for the two doctors. As a result, the doctors are “depressed and disappointed because they owe more in loyalty money than they earn.”

Source:
https://www.rfa.org/english/news/korea/funds-06062022191159.html
https://www.rfa.org/english/news/korea/laos-06142022182130.html

Choe Son Hui (right), North Korea’s first female foreign minister.

NORTH KOREA IS READY FOR ITS NEXT NUCLEAR TEST UNDER THE COUNTRY’S FIRST FEMALE FOREIGN MINISTER’S LEADERSHIP

North Korea appointed its top nuclear negotiator, Choe Son Hui, the daughter of former North Korean Prime Minister, as the country’s first female foreign minister. Choe first appeared in the media in 1997 during four-party nuclear negotiations and later during six-party talks in the 2000s, throughout which she had published alternating statements on North Korean state media between threatening a “nuclear showdown” and offering dialogues with its neighbors.
South Korean Foreign Minister, Park Jin, attended a summit in Washington on June 13, 2022 and stated his belief that North Korea has completed its final preparations to carry out the seventh nuclear test since 2006 and its first since September 2017.
Park spoke at a press conference alongside U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, threatening the North with additional international sanctions as well as increased military pressure if Pyongyang goes ahead with the test, and warning that “North Korea should change its mind and make the right decision.”
However, according to a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, Doug Bandow, sanctions imposed on North Korea so far has not changed its policies and would be unlikely to have any greater impact going forward.

Source:
CNN
VOA News
Daily Mail