Pyongyang has already closed its borders with China and Russia, and toughened its quarantine procedures to disrupt the movement of people and import of goods SEOUL: North Korea’s efforts to prevent the spread of coronavirus have come at the cost of severe economic damage, a North Korean media outlet said on Tuesday. “North Korea is taking a series of strong anti-coronavirus measures even at the cost of enormous economic losses for the lives and safety of its people,” Urimizokkiri, a North Korean propaganda website, reported. It is the first time that Pyongyang has talked openly about its economic problems amid the global spread of the deadly virus, even though the regime has yet to acknowledge a confirmed case in the country. “It is not something that can be easily decided and implemented by anybody to take the ultra-strong preventive efforts to block the spread of COVID-19,” the website said. “It is because there is no task more important than ensuring the lives and safety of people.” Nonetheless, speculation is rife that Pyongyang has concealed the spread of the deadly disease. On Monday, a South Korean news site reported that around 180 North Korean soldiers had died from the disease in the past two months, with another 3,700 in quarantine. “I haven’t heard of corpses being cremated in military hospitals,” an unidentified North Korean source was quoted by the Daily NK based in Seoul as saying. “The military leadership likely believes that suddenly asking the hospitals to cremate all the bodies would create a big headache for the medical staff.” North Korean authorities have ordered military hospitals to disinfect quarantined areas with methanol, where sick soldiers are being hospitalized on a daily basis, the source added. Pyongyang has already closed its borders with China and Russia, and toughened its quarantine procedures to disrupt the movement of people and import of goods. However, such disruptions could hurt an already frail economy which is under heavy strain from crippling international sanctions. “I guess COVID-19 would have a large impact on North Korea, and the regime appears to be certainly impatient,” Park Won-kon, a professor of international politics at Handong Global University, said, referring to the latest missile test-launches being conducted by the North over the past few weeks. The Yomiuri Shimbun, a major Japanese daily, reported recently that North Korea had asked South Korea to send surgical face masks, but the request was turned down as South Korea is suffering from a shortage. Seoul’s Unification Ministry denied the report as “groundless.” Amid a public outcry over a lack of face masks, President Moon Jae-in’s administration announced a series of plans to control the supply of masks. The government had also announced a full ban on the exports of masks and decided to limit weekly sales in local pharmacies to two per customer.