An empty park outside a railway station due to a lockdown in Pyongyang.

An empty park outside a railway station due to a lockdown in Pyongyang. / AFP via Getty Images

SEOUL — North Korea's capital is under a five-day lockdown to fight the spread of an unspecified respiratory disease. Authorities have made no mention of COVID.

The Russian Embassy in Pyongyang posted on its Facebook page a notice from authorities. It says the lockdown will last from Wednesday until Sunday.

Residents are advised to stay at home, and take and report their temperatures four times a day.

North Korea admitted its first COVID outbreak last May. It claimed victory over the disease by August, but experts remain skeptical of that claim.

This story originally aired in NPR's Newscast.

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