Contrary to its October 24th Ebola

prevention edict mandating 21-day quarantines for all foreigners entering the

country, North Korea has been opening its doors to wealthy Chinese traders to

secure more investment, the Daily NK has learned.

“Recently I’ve

heard North Korea say it won’t isolate traders who have

a lot of money,” a source in China told the Daily NK on

Wednesday. “If people receive health certificates from

China and agree to be tested for Ebola in the North, it claims they are exempt

from the isolation process.”

Shortly after Pyongyang’s unilateral announcement of plans to implement the quarantine and

testing on all foreigners entering the country, Chinese traders who profit on

urgent business transactions said, “Who would want to

be cooped up for so long?”

Facing these conditions, and desperate to

encourage investment, Pyongyang has slowly been relaxing the measures it put in

place to prevent the Ebola virus from entering the country, according to the

source.

“Some people, who didn’t like the idea of being quarantined and tested before, have shown

interest now,” the source went on, quick to note that many

still harbor concerns about the North going back on its word.

These concerns stem from merchants caught

in the country during the quarantine declaration and forced to pay their hotel

lodging and testing costs . Some suspect the latest move may be another scam

tactic to procure hard currency.

Despite the limited opening of its borders, Ebola

prevention is still a high priority for the North. “The

head of a Chinese trade company recently came back from North Korea, and said

he was told to come without an assistant and driver,”

he said. “Once he got there, the North provided him

with a car and driver after testing him again, giving him the impression that

efforts are still very much in place to prevent Ebola from getting in and

spreading.”

The source pointed out that Pyongyang seems

to simply be banning companies with less capital, and therefore deemed less

economically valuable to the state.

“If they’re not big

companies, most people have seemingly just accepted they won’t be going to the North for the time being,”

the source explained, adding that human exchanges in areas like fisheries and

clothing, operated by small and medium-sized companies on the border, have

mostly come to a halt.

“There’s not even news of state

enterprise heads coming from North Korea to China,” he

pointed out. “With this ongoing, people’s perceptions about trade with the North are deteriorating by the

day.”