NORTH Korea executed a man by firing squad for breaking Covid restrictions in a chilling warning to others, say reports.
He was reportedly gunned down in front of a crowd of terrified citizens in a bid to scare them into following Kim Jong-un’s strict pandemic rules.
Reports from the region say the unnamed man, who was in his 50s, was killed after he crossed the sealed-off border with China to carry out “illegal” business affairs.
He was killed on November 28 by a “firing squad” for violating “emergency quarantine measures”, reports RadioFreeAsia.
Fearing border crossers could bring the virus back with them from China, the rogue state has imposed a series of harsh measures during the pandemic
It has beefed up the frontier guard corps with special forces and ordered soldiers to shoot anyone who steps within a kilometer (0.6 miles) of the border.
In November, Pyongyang even deployed anti-aircraft units in some areas of the border to prevent civilians from crossing.
And just two week ago, a North Korean solider was killed as he laid landmines under the orders of Kim’s cronies.
The trooper was blown to bits along the border with China in Yanggang Province.
The tragic blast killed one member of the Storm Corps and left three others injured, according to a source who shared details of the tragedy with the Daily NK online newspaper.
The catastrophe was uncovered after insiders from the National Intelligence Service in South Korea revealed the dictatorship had buried landmines in a desperate bid to control the spread of coronavirus.
A shocking report also warned the North’s coronavirus victims are starving to death after being abandoned in secret quarantine camps, set up to hide the horrors of the pandemic from the world’s glare.
Kim is said to be paranoid that a Covid outbtreak will take a grip of his isolated kingdom.
A document from a meeting of the North’s ruling Workers’ Party earlier this year warned that up to 500,000 people could die if the virus spreads in the country, say reports.
The secretive country’s autocratic leader has claimed there are no cases of Covid-19 in North Korea, despite neighbours South Korea reporting around 30,000 infections and China topping 91,000 cases and more than 4,700 deaths.
Analysts have said it is highly unlikely the country of almost 26 million people has experienced no coronavirus cases at all.
