Several suspected coronavirus infections have occurred in North Korea even though it shut all its borders, sources claim. The infections most likely spread through porous parts of the border with China that see plenty of smuggling and other clandestine traffic.

The regime has even banned foreign diplomats from entering or leaving the country and indefinitely suspended services in hotels and shops in Pyongyang.

Two suspected cases occurred in Sinuiju, a source told Radio Free Asia on Tuesday. He said he heard the news from his family in Sinuiju over the phone. They said one of the patients had been placed in isolation at a motel there and the other lives in the city's Paekun-dong area.

The regime also quarantined several patients with suspected coronavirus in Musan, North Hamgyong Province on Sunday, another source told the Chosun Ilbo on Tuesday. They are locals who engaged in smuggling between the North and China, according to the source.

Liaoning, the Chinese province across the river from Sinuiju, had 74 confirmed infections as of Tuesday, and Jilin Province over the border from Musan 42.

