Burdened by sanctions, North Korea sees coronavirus threaten economic lifelines

FILE PHOTO: Trucks wait for border inspection at the Chinese end of the Friendship Bridge that connects Sinuiju, North Korea with Dandong, Liaoning province, China over the Yalu river May 24, 2018. Picture taken May 24, 2018. REUTERS/Jacky Chen/File Photo

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea's already tenuous economic lifelines to the outside world are now nearly severed as it seals its borders with China and Russia to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus.

Already one of the most closed-off countries in the world, North Korea has stopped airline flights and train service with its neighbours, established weeks-long mandatory quarantines for recently arrived foreigners, suspended international tourism, and imposed a near-complete lockdown on cross-border travel.