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South Korea to help North Korea screen MERS virus at Kaesong

South Korea has agreed to a North Korea request to install three cameras previously used to screen for the Ebola virus at the Kaesong Industrial Complex.

By Elizabeth Shim
Seoul said on Thursday that North Korea had requested South Korean help in installing fever-screening cameras at different checkpoints, including the customs and immigration checkpoint en route to Kaesong, North Korea. Photo by Stephen Shaver/UPI
Seoul said on Thursday that North Korea had requested South Korean help in installing fever-screening cameras at different checkpoints, including the customs and immigration checkpoint en route to Kaesong, North Korea. Photo by Stephen Shaver/UPI | License Photo

SEOUL, June 4 (UPI) -- South Korea's Unification Ministry said it would work together with North Korea to prevent the spread of the MERS virus into a jointly operated factory complex in the isolated country.

Seoul said on Thursday that North Korea had requested South Korean help in installing fever-screening cameras at different checkpoints, Yonhap reported.

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South Korea has agreed to the request and plans to install three cameras previously used to screen the Ebola virus at the Kaesong Industrial Complex. Seoul, however, has yet to decide on a second North Korea request to supply facemasks for all North Korean workers in the complex.

The cameras each cost around $9,500 and were financed by the South Korean government in November, according to South Korean newspaper Maeil Business.

When North Korea lifted its Ebola-related travel ban, the cameras were returned to South Korea.

A few months later, the equipment is being reinstalled – this time to screen for the MERS coronavirus that has spread rapidly in South Korea but so far has been limited to hospital personnel and those who were in direct contact with patients.

North Korea first reported South Korea cases of the MERS virus on May 23, according to Yonhap.

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North Korea's state-controlled news outlet KCNA introduced the unfamiliar disease as a highly fatal respiratory syndrome that was occurring in neighboring South Korea.

In its latest update, North Korea announced there are 30 confirmed MERS patients in South Korea. The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that number has increased to 36. Schools were closed.

Kim Yong-hyun, a professor of North Korean studies at Dongguk University in South Korea, said the epidemic could suspend North-South civic exchanges in the near future.

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