Corona infection is spreading fast in North Korea. Official figures show that hundreds of thousands are affected every day.
About two million people are now affected in countries with a population of about 28 million. According to official figures from the authorities, 63 people are said to have died.
– It seems that North Korea may now realize that they need help, because they are now suddenly beginning to report to the world all these cases they have received. This is a new thing.
This is what Stein Donessen, an Asian researcher at the Department of Peace Research at PRIO, says.
North Korea: Researcher Stein Donasson is an expert in North Korea. Photo: Derje Peterson / NDP
Sensational advice should have been said
While other parts of the world operate with “meters”, vaccines and strikes and bandages, North Korea has chosen a different solution. Initially, North Korea rejected the vaccines of many countries.
Lim Yul-zul, a professor at the Institute for Far East Studies at Gyeongnam University in Seoul, writes that the country’s leader, Kim Jong Un, is facing a “really big dilemma.” Sky News Tuesday.
– The professor tells the news site that if he accepts US or Western aid, it could shake the self-confidence he has firmly maintained and weaken people’s confidence in him.
At the same time, Sky News writes that the North Korean state media urges residents to gargle with salt water and drink tea three times a day, which they say will “cure” and eliminate the virus.
Visit: Kim Jong Un visited a pharmacy in Pyongyang on May 15, 2022. Image: Korean Central News Agency
Fear of mass death
Although North Korea has rejected aid from both the WHO and its neighbor South Korea, Donson believes the country has little faith in the transparency it now shows. But he still fears big consequences.
– I’m very worried. I am afraid this will lead to another famine. Then we get to a situation that goes back to 1997-98, where a million people, especially children, may have died of starvation.
Donason notes that this is a country with many and complex challenges, and that severe epidemics will lead the country to famine.
– Only part of Kovid 19’s Infectious Disease film. This is a population living at a subsistence level where 40 percent of the population may not have the food they need. This infection can cause the file to overflow and thus many people die for various reasons.
Assistant Director of Health Espen Rostrup Naxstad believes the country is now experiencing a very dangerous mix of many factors.
Disinfection: On May 16, 2022, a worker disinfects a dining room in a factory in Pyongyang. Photo: Guide from Kyoto / Reuters
No immunity
– The health service suffers from an obvious lack of resources, and if we have a highly contagious virus in an unvaccinated population, it is a very bad mix.
Nakstad emphasizes that the situation in North Korea is incomparable to how people in other parts of the world have reacted to the omicron variant of the virus. Here it gave very mild symptoms, but the level of immunity in the population was high. Some were sick and many were vaccinated. This is not the case in North Korea.
Railway Station: Pyongyang Railway Station is being disinfected. Photo: Korean Central News Agency
Weapons development continues
– Many adults are probably seriously ill, and this can lead to a more serious situation.
– Do you think the death toll will be higher?
– Yes, one thing is because of the high mortality rates due to Govt, but because health care cannot be provided to those who need it for other reasons, says Nuxstad.
On a regular basis, the regime in Pyongyang has shown that it has developed long-range missiles that can hit countries in most parts of the world. According to reports, a nuclear missile is currently being launched from South Korea.
– This may be because he wants to attract attention and bring America back on track, says Donnason.
On TV: People in South Korea follow the situation in North Korea at a train station in Seoul. Photo: Lee Jin-man / AB
With the exception of China, North Korea has suffered severe sanctions from around the world. But after the epidemic hit the world, relations with China were severed.
– Kim Jong Un is responsible for the most severe sanctions against the people. Most of the trade was with China, but this too was almost non-existent during the epidemics. So the population in this country is in a very bad state, says Donason.
As of Thursday, the NTB said the number of cases diagnosed had risen to more than 262,720 and the number of registered deaths to 63.
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