Pyongyang (North Korea): A public execution was carried out in North Korea by the firing squad as to punish an individual for breaching coronavirus rules. The information was shared by the insiders in the country.
The person who was executed was accused of smuggling across the sealed-off Chinese border. He was shot dead on November 28, to scare people into following the rules.
North Korea has so far claimed that it never had a case of the deadly virus. This is because of the 'ultra-high-level emergency quarantine measures' under Kim Jong-un's regime. The orders say that any trespasser at the Chinese border should be shot to death.
The accused smuggler was in his 50s. He was accused of smuggling with Chinese business partners across a border, which was sealed for most of the time in 2020.
North Korea's biggest trading partner, China, is also the country where the deadly COVIOD-19 originated. Therefore, the trade between the two nations has slumped by 75 per cent because of the global pandemic.
The North Korean administration is fearful of smugglers bringing in the virus from China, and that is why it has increased its military presence in the border.
However, a source said that the public execution was done by Kim Jong-un's regime, to scare people into submission. Whenever people from North Korea complain about their livelihoods and how they are affected, the authorities shut them by threatening them public executions, and sometimes by sending them to prison.
Although North Korea has claimed itself to be COVID-free country, it is making all the efforts to prevent the spread of the virus. The pandemic could have had a terrible effect as the medical care system of North Korea is under-equipped.