If they are using some sort of sinophobic lie to do so, then yeah. Of course it's not really clear that's what's happening. The only relevant part of the article is:
“As the new coronavirus infections continue to spread around the world, the need to deal with the yellow dust and take thorough measures has become more critical,” North Korea’s official party newspaper Rodong Sinmun said on Thursday.
Which doesn't clarify how the paper thinks the coronavirus and dust storm are linked. It definitely comes off weird since I can't come up with a good reason for this phrasing, but I sure wish the scmp article would give more context (you know they won't) or that I could read the Rodong Simun article (I don't know Korean not do I really care about this very much beyond leaving this comment).
“People must pay attention to personal hygiene after returning from outside,” a news reader said. “Also, workers should avoid outdoor construction work even at reconstruction sites.”
On Thursday, the Russian embassy in North Korea wrote on Facebook that North Korea’s Foreign Ministry had ordered all visitors to the country and its staff to wait out the dust storm inside.
It can be warmer or colder, and I'm not sure where things stand today tbh. But yeah, I would guess that they arent exactly fearmongering about the "China virus" the way Trump does. Not really sure what's going on here unless I can read a translated article (once again, don't care), but the scmp is not a source I would expect to be charitable to the DPRK
I mean, as always it goes a bit beyond "good" and "bad", and you just need to acknowledge that they're an English language HK-based outlet, so they are going to be pretty liberal all in all. They aren't exactly a state department mouthpiece (unless someone has info on that), though they do toe the line more or less.
So the state telling people to wait out dust storms inside is bad now?
If they are using some sort of sinophobic lie to do so, then yeah. Of course it's not really clear that's what's happening. The only relevant part of the article is:
Which doesn't clarify how the paper thinks the coronavirus and dust storm are linked. It definitely comes off weird since I can't come up with a good reason for this phrasing, but I sure wish the scmp article would give more context (you know they won't) or that I could read the Rodong Simun article (I don't know Korean not do I really care about this very much beyond leaving this comment).
From the end of the article
Doesn't DPRK have good relations with China? I'm confused.
It can be warmer or colder, and I'm not sure where things stand today tbh. But yeah, I would guess that they arent exactly fearmongering about the "China virus" the way Trump does. Not really sure what's going on here unless I can read a translated article (once again, don't care), but the scmp is not a source I would expect to be charitable to the DPRK
is scmp bad?
I mean, as always it goes a bit beyond "good" and "bad", and you just need to acknowledge that they're an English language HK-based outlet, so they are going to be pretty liberal all in all. They aren't exactly a state department mouthpiece (unless someone has info on that), though they do toe the line more or less.