Coronavirus Forcing China to Cut Transportation

Due to the thousands of Coronavirus cases popping up in mainland China, some of the countries leaders have stoped the transportation to and from the country. The virus has slowly spread across the world, cases being seen as far as the United States, Australia, and France to name a few. As of January 28, 2020, 106 people have been killed by this virus. Transport to the city where the virus began, Wehan, have been completely cut and hospital in the area have been extremely overwhelmed. Considering the virus is beginning to escape China, countries that trade with China are beginning to temporarily cancel transportation of goods in order to protect themselves from the disease. According to Rebecca Ratcliffe, witter for The Guardian, "China has encouraged citizens to reconsider the timing of overseas flights, and introduced sweeping domestic travel restrictions in an attempt to stop the spread of the disease.". This shows the level of precaution the world is taking in order to minimizes the spread if this virus. 

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/jan/28/wuhan-evacuation-us-and-japan-to-fly-out-citizens-as-coronavirus-deaths-rise

China's Birthrates

China's low birthrates have been a hot topic discussion of recently. Their infamous one child policy has not only controlled its once overwhelming overpopulation issues, but in-fact have posed threats to the future success of the countries economy. The one child policy made it difficult for rural families to have more than one child without having to hide a child or come up with money to work around the system. Joshua Berlinger, writer for CNN, states " Chineses mothers gave birth to 14.65 million children last year, a birth rate of 10.48 babies per 1,000 people, according to figures from the National Bureau of statistics.".  The Chinese Communist party encourages families to produce more children but parents fear they are not financial competent enough to provide for a child considering China's low working class wages. Economically, China fears that its current low birthrates will not be enough to sustain the older retired population in the future. In order for the country to continue producing similar economic success, birthrates will need to double current numbers.

Source:

https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/17/asia/china-birthrate-intl-hnk/index.html

North Korea may be Open to Solo Travel

Throughout the last couple months government officials in South Korea have been open to negotiating policy that might make it accessible for South Korean citizens to visit North Korea. Under this new policy, South Koreans will be granted visas by their government that will allow them to travel to North Korea, but only with the permission of North Korea as well. According to CNN Travel, "The ministry's deputy spokesman, Kim Eun-han, said individual tourism was not subject to sanctions and that "the government is actively reviewing to allow South Koreans to visit North Korea individually as long as the safety for the citizens can be guaranteed.". This leaving only the concern of South Korean's safety the last barrier present in the way of allowing South Koreans into their neighboring country. Considering rising tensions with the North Korea and the rest of the world, these threats to safety are not easy to look past. It's not likely these negotiations will go smoothly, but obvious progress is being made in the quest to open North Korea to the rest of the world.