The gloomy days of COVID-19 seem like a faraway past to the majority of people on the planet. But not in North Korea, said Justin Martell, who recently made history as the first American to enter the closed country since the pandemic began more than five years ago.
Due to persistent concerns about virus transmission, major tourist destinations, such as local markets, are still off-limits, and strict health precautions, including mask-wearing and temperature checks, are still standard.
According to Martell, pandemic paranoia is still pervasive in North Korea, officially known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). He even came across strange hypotheses on the genesis of the virus.
“There is a rumour that COVID-19 entered the country through a balloon that was sent from South Korea,” said Martell, a filmmaker from Connecticut who created Pioneer Media, a company that specialises in capturing unusual and challenging-to-reach places.
Last week, he was a member of a small group of tour operators who travelled to North Korea to establish plans for future travel. They returned to China on Monday via the icy Tumen River Bridge after five days in North Korea, where they laid the foundation for the limited resumption of Western travel.
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