North Korea has reportedly mandated every foreign national entering the country through China, including diplomats, to be placed in quarantine for a month in an enhanced effort to contain the spread of the new China coronavirus. 

The Russian Embassy in Pyongyang said in Facebook on Tuesday that the North Korean Foreign Ministry informed it of the decision. 

Under the measure, individuals will be put in isolation in specially designated facilities and monitored to determine if they are infected.

All foreigners arriving from China or through Russia, including members of all registered foreign diplomatic missions in the North and employees of international organizations operating in the country, will be subject to it.  

South Korea's Unification Ministry said earlier in the day that Pyongyang requested South Korean personnel at the inter-Korean liaison office in the North's border town of Gaeseong wear health masks.

[Photo : YONHAP News]