NORTH KOREA FACES 1.2 MILLION COVID-19 

CASES IN THREE DAYS

While almost all countries have been affected to varying degrees by successive waves of Covid-19 for more than two years, North Korea has always claimed to be part of the three territories, with Turkmenistan and the Tuvalu islands, to have never been exposed to the virus, observes Vice.

If doubts still remain as to this absence of SARS-CoV-2 on North Korean territory since the start of the pandemic, the situation has in any case changed since Thursday, May 12. That day, state media reported – admittedly half-heartedly – ​​the very first case of Covid-19 in the country. Since then, there have been nearly 1.2 million people infected and fifty deaths from infection with the virus. An impressive development in such a short time which, according to Vice, could be greatly underestimated. A question is now on everyone's lips: how did the virus enter the country? Especially given the fact that “North Korea was one of the first to seal its foreign borders in January 2020 and to paralyze international trade – including with China”, recalls Vice.

According to Ethan Jewell, Seoul-based correspondent for NK News, one of the main avenues to explain the spread of the virus on North Korean territory would however be to be sought on the side of China, a country also hard hit by the Covid- 19 for several months. Also according to Vice, "there have been numerous reports of people making illegal trips [...] in an effort to provide essential resources to impoverished and starving North Korean communities".

A strained medical system

According to Vic e, North Korean soldiers could then have found themselves in contact with some of these Chinese smugglers. They would then have gone to a military parade organized in Pyongyang on April 25, transforming the event into a giant cluster. For Hong Min, a researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification, there is no doubt: “The current Covid epidemic [in North Korea] is closely linked to the April 25 parade”.

On the other hand, faced with the number of cases which continues to increase, the North Korean health system is struggling. "In town, you have a very big general hospital... but if you go to the villages, they hardly have any clinics," Hong Lim explains. The medical system is under strain and the shortage of drugs is evident.”

Due to the few people vaccinated and the lack of available treatments, experts believe that North Korea could introduce draconian containment measures to limit the spread of the virus, like its Chinese neighbor.