North Korea’s capital Pyongyang is reportedly under lockdown amid claims of a coup attempt against dictator Kim Jong Un or another high-level official.
No one can leave or enter the capital per a travel ban that was introduced on September 27 but was just reported widely on Friday.
New Focus International reported the development, citing sources.
“The source could not confirm whether this move was related to Kim Jong-un’s disappearance from the public eye for the past 26 days,” it said.
Even Pyongyang residents who had left the capital for business or other reasons are not being allowed to re-enter the capital.
“This sort of action suggests there has either been an attempted coup or that the authorities there have uncovered some sort of plot against the leadership,” Toshimitsu Shigemura, a professor at Tokyo’s Waseda University and an authority on North Korean affairs, told The Telegraph.
“If it is a military-backed coup, then the situation in Pyongyang will be very dangerous and I have heard reports that Kim has been moved out of the capital. Another reason might be that some senior officials of the regime have attempted to defect and they are closing the escape routes, such as the airport and the border.”
But sources told NK News that the city does not appear to be “under lockdown.”
“I cannot confirm that the capital is under lockdown,” a source based in Pyongyang said on Friday, adding that there were “no signs of any tense situation in the city.”
The anonymous source also questioned the claim of a travel ban.
“I did not hear anything about the city being locked off from North Korean visitors,” the source said. “This very topic looks a bit strange.”
The wave of reports seemed to start after Kim Jong-un failed to attend a session of the country’s rubber-stamp parliament.
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