This article appeared first in the Dutch quality paper NRC Handelsblad (link). For this blog it has been translated into English.

Editor-in-chief Sang Yong Lee is extremely busy these days. His network of secret informants in North Korea is increasingly reporting on mounting tensions between North and South Korea. Daily NK is one of the few news organisations with its own sources in North Korea. Lee keeps secret how exactly that works. His sources report at risk of their own lives and their families, often using illegal Chinese mobile phones.

North Korean newspapers claim that effective lockdown measures have been taken at an early stage. Do you consider that plausible?

"North Korea closed its borders on January 29, significantly faster than other countries around China. North Korea also refuses to admit 'defectors' arrested in China. With the closed border, the regime wants to demonstrate that there is no corona. However, most experts don't believe this claim.”

How do you estimate the actual Covid-19 impact?

"We have indirect evidence that indicates many deaths from Covid-19. There have been many reports from across the country of deaths after symptoms such as fever and cough. We understand that authorities are ordering to cremate these bodies."

“Hospitals outside Pyongyang have no testing capacity. As a result, local doctors cannot make an accurate diagnosis, but North Korean authorities have said that anyone with symptoms should be placed in isolation. Due to weak healthcare, we suspect that a large number of people have died from the corona virus.”

According to Daily NK estimates, 15,000 people were quarantined and at least 5,000 died, out of a population of approximately 26 million. The UN rapporteur on human rights in North Korea urges the Security Council to ease sanctions to prevent famine. Would that actually benefit North Koreans?

"It are the North Korean authorities who make the people suffer. Even in Pyongyang [where mainly the elite lives - ed.] no rations have been distributed for 3 months. I believe there is an urgent need for humanitarian aid, but sanctions have been imposed to enforce denuclearisation. If they are lifted too quickly, it could be the wrong signal to the regime. Other ways must be developed to help North Koreans.”

The North Korean regime seems to be furious about balloons with 'lies from South Korea'. Is that anger also related to news from for example Daily NK?

"I don't think they are only angry about those anti-Pyongyang leaflets, our reports probably play a part too. In reality, these folders have little chance of bringing about much change, because few copies reach ordinary people. Clearly, the authorities are deeply offended by the content of those leaflets, which explains these threats. It is so sensitive because they are extremely afraid that ordinary North Koreans will learn too much about the regime's weaknesses. That is why we must continue to get even more news into that country.”

Kim Yo-jong, the sister of Kim Jong-un, recently called 'defected' North Koreans 'human waste'. How do escaped North Koreans at Daily NK respond?

"Most of the refugees I speak do think the aggression is abnormal, but they also believe that North Korea is clearly entering a 'provocation cycle' again, because so much is wrong domestically. It is a well-known trick of the North Korean regime to blame and provoke the 'sworn enemy' South Korea to divert attention from the real problems, such as corona and famine now."

How do you analyse the blowing up of the border office and the recent rising tensions?

"There are probably several complex factors involved, but these provocations seem to be primarily aimed at preventing domestic unrest. The pandemic and poverty really make life horrible for ordinary North Koreans. The likelihood of sanctions being eased seems small for the time being, so North Korean leaders are now falling back on the old script; on how to flare-up the conflict with South Korea."