Swine Flu: Pyongyang accepts South’s "unconditional" offer to contain pandemic

Yesterday, the official North Korean KCNA agency admitted that the H1N1 virus has reached the country. The nine cases of infection were found in the capital and Shinuiju, capital of the province of North Pyongan, on the border with China. Government officials stress that the closure of schools is a "precautionary" measure to contain the pandemic. Anonymous sources in North Korea told The Daily NK that the measure is linked to the failure to convert the price of coal and timber after the decision to change the North Korean currency.  

Recently the NGO Good Friends, based in Seoul and active in the North, released a report explaining that "a new kind of influence” caused a series of deaths in Pyongyang and Shinuiju. Among the victims - seven in total - there were three students and two workers of state construction companies.

  Finally, the three-day visit by Stephen Bosworth, U.S. envoy in North Korea ended today. The U.S. diplomat, the first visit to Pyongyang under the Obama administration, called the meeting "very useful", but declined to give further details. Discussions focused on the North Korean nuclear issue, the sanctions of the international community and the attempt to give new impetus to the six-party talks that include China, United States, North Korea, South Korea, Japan and Russia.