The dictator warned a summit of senior party officials late last month that there would be “serious consequences” if COVID-19 was able to enter the country. Now with reports emerging that roughly 180 North Korean soldiers have succumbed to the virus, it’s feared that the regime will blame a scapegoat. Two party cadres, Ri Man Gon and Pak Thae Dok, have already been “harshly criticized” by Kim Jong-un after he revealed “abuse of power” and “corruption” among senior officials.

A party committee has also been dissolved and now faces a “relevant penalty”.

A leading infectious diseases expert said North Korea’s dependence on China made it difficult to stop the disease crossing the border, which was closed in January.

“I think closing the border will reduce the likelihood of entry but won’t reduce it to zero,” said William Schaffner of Vanderbilt University in the US state of Tennessee.

“These respiratory viruses are very clever,” he continued. “They can get past most [North Korean] safeguards eventually because there’s so much of it in China.”

The hermit kingdom does a staggering 95 percent of its foreign trade with China, according to figures cited by North Korea watchdog, 38 North, in February.

So closing the border has led to skyrocketing prices within the secretive state, according to South Korea’s Daily NK newspaper, with the cost of fuel surging by 30 per cent, sugar by 35 per cent and rice by 50 per cent.

Dr Schaffner, a former president of America’s National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, said this pressure could have lead to unauthorised border crossings and further infection.

“There are always people who manage to evade the restrictions,” he said.

“People are very clever and here people are actually driven by a need to do this.

“That will offer opportunities for the virus to be acquired in China and then brought over and spread further once people get into North Korea again.”

A source in the North’s military revealed the 180 deaths to Daily NK and said that most occurred close to the border with China.

A further 3,700 soldiers were under quarantine, they added.

The regime continues to deny that the virus has any presence within its borders.

In its report, Daily NK added that the wave of deaths had led to corpses being disinfected rather than cremated, in defiance of government orders.

“There’s just too many bodies,” their source said.

“The military leadership likely believes that suddenly asking the hospitals to cremate all the bodies would create a big headache for medical staff.”

The source added that army chiefs would “be held responsible for the deaths that have occurred in their units”.

The regime is so concerned by the virus that it allegedly won’t even allow North Korean defectors who were captured in China to be repatriated so they can be punished.

Regime forces have also threatened to shoot Chinese citizens who come too close to the border, according to three sources.

Recent North Korean propaganda has heavily emphasised efforts to stop the virus, featuring images of officials in protective clothing disinfecting buses, barbershops, schools and other public places.

Dr Schaffner said such measures would help to reduce but not stop transmission.

“It is very, very impressive, and those kinds of measures likely are going to reduce the risk of transmission,” he said.

After being forced into isolation, a group of foreign diplomats was this week allowed to leave the country, arriving at the Russian port of Vladivostok on Monday.

British ambassador, Colin Crooks, tweeted: “Sad to say farewell this morning to colleagues from German Embassy and French Office which are closing temporarily. British Embassy remains open.”

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