Old travel advice misleadingly shared as North Korea ‘bans’ Chinese amid Covid crisis

Social media posts misleadingly claim North Korea joins a string of countries announcing travel restrictions for visitors from the world’s most populous country, amid a surge in coronavirus cases in China. In fact, the post shares old travel advice from China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs from January 2020, when North Korea suspended travel to China in response to the coronavirus outbreak. , said that as of January 2023, there would be no change to its policy. Entry into North Korea is prohibited for all visitors, not just Chinese nationals, according to travel agencies operating in North Korea.

“After China lifted immigration restrictions, North Korea immediately banned Chinese from entering,” read a simplified Chinese tweet posted on Dec. 28.

“Even North Koreans in China must quarantine for 30 days after returning.”

The tweet included a travel advisory that read, “North Korean/Chinese nationals are temporarily barred from entering the country and all recent arrivals, including North Koreans, are subject to a 30-day quarantine and observation period.” A screenshot is shown.

Screenshot of the misleading tweet taken on January 10, 2023.

More than a dozen countries, including the United States, Canada and India, have announced travel restrictions on arrivals from China after Beijing’s decision to lift years of lockdowns, quarantines and mass testing.

Hospitals across China have been overwhelmed by an explosion of infections following the abolition of the “Zero Covid” policy that largely kept the virus at bay but wrecked the economy and sparked widespread outcry.

The travel advisory was shared on Facebook, Twitter and similar posts on Chinese platforms Douyin, Weibo and China Gate.

Various Chinese-language news outlets also misleadingly claimed that North Korea had issued a new ban on Chinese visitors following the Covid surge, including here and here.

old travel advice

A keyword search of the travel advisory found the same text in a document on China’s National Immigration Service website.

The document does not state the date of issue, but the same travel advice was issued in a statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China on January 30, 2020.

The ministry’s announcement comes after North Korea has reportedly suspended all domestic and international flights and trains in response to the Covid-19 outbreak.

Screenshot of a travel advisory released by China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on January 30, 2020

A North Korean watcher said Pyongyang’s ban on Chinese travelers, as well as arrivals from all other countries, would still be in effect as of January 2023.

Dean J. Ouellet, deputy director of the Far Eastern Research Institute at Kyungnam University in South Korea, confirmed that North Korea has closed its borders to international arrivals, including its citizens living abroad, since January 2020. .

As of January 2023, the UK Foreign Office travel advisory for North Korea states:

A travel agency operating in North Korea said borders remain closed.

“Under the current policy, no one is allowed to enter,” an official with China-based Young Pioneer Tours told AFP on January 4.

Representatives of Koryo Tour, another Pyongyang-approved China-based travel agency, also dismissed claims circulating on social media.

“North Korea is closed to all immigrants, including: [North] Koreanfrom January 2020,” a spokesperson told AFP on Jan. 4.

“this [claim] It doesn’t matter because no one can enter the country anyway. ”

Nam Sung-wook, a professor of Korean Unification, Diplomacy and Security at Korea University, said there were exceptions to North Korea’s travel ban, such as a “small number of Chinese drivers” who were allowed into the country for business purposes.

North Korea reportedly resumed trade with China in June 2020.

But Nam told AFP on January 6 that the North Korean government’s ban on foreigners is still in effect.