North Korea speaks of a “brilliant success”. It is still unclear how far the virus has spread in the country. The official figures on the corona outbreak are being questioned abroad.
North Korea’s ruler Kim Jong Un has declared the corona virus eradicated in his country. Kim solemnly announced victory in the fight to eradicate the “new corona virus”, the state media reported on Thursday. The ruler made the statement on Wednesday in Pyongyang at a national meeting on measures to combat the epidemic. His sister Kim Yo Jong hinted at the same meeting that her brother had contracted Covid-19 himself. He was suffering from a high fever, it was said. Only three months ago, the strictly isolated country had confirmed a corona outbreak for the first time.
Kim Jong Un also reportedly announced that the protective measures under the “maximum virus prevention system” will be relaxed again. However, success can only be maintained if “the steel-hard anti-epidemic barrier is maintained and work is intensified until the end of the global health crisis,” he was quoted as saying. Nevertheless, observers believe Kim’s statement also means that North Korea could now again increase trade with its large neighboring country China to import much-needed food and materials. Kim had ordered a nationwide lockdown in May.
It was still unclear how many corona infections there actually were in North Korea because, according to experts, the country does not have sufficient testing capacities. In mid-May, North Korea officially confirmed infections with the pathogen for the first time and declared an epidemic emergency for the state. However, the country has since spoken of “fever cases”. It has not reported such a case for almost two weeks.
North Korea boasts the lowest mortality rate
The country boasts that it has the world’s lowest mortality rate in the corona pandemic – i.e. the ratio of the number of deaths to the number of infections. According to official figures, almost 4.8 million cases of fever have been recorded among the almost 26 million inhabitants since the end of April. There were 74 fatalities. However, experts doubt the figures. “Hardly anything is known about the country’s data collection, so it is unclear how reliable the figures are,” wrote experts from the Stimson Center’s North Korea-focused news site “38 North” in the United States.
Influential sister Kim Jong Uns again used the Pyongyang meeting to criticize South Korea and blame the neighboring country for the outbreak. She accused the Seoul government of allowing activists to send huge gas balloons carrying leaflets aimed at Pyongyang north from South Korea across the border. This could spread the virus. “What matters is the fact that the South Korean puppets are still throwing leaflets and contaminated objects onto our territory,” she was quoted as saying by the state media. She threatened South Korea with retaliatory measures.
The unification ministry in Seoul expressed its regret at Kim’s “baseless allegation”. Observers suspect that she could use these allegations to try to dispel possible blame for the corona outbreak against the leadership. Since last year, a law has been in force in South Korea that prohibits the sending of leaflets and other objects along the military demarcation line between the two countries.
Source: Stern
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