COVID-19 pandemic in North Korea
The COVID-19 pandemic in North Korea was part of an global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a novel infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). North Korea confirmed its first case on 8 May 2022.
North Korea is a secretive and diplomatically isolated country in East Asia. Its weak healthcare system and impoverished population led to concerns over the country's vulnerability to an outbreak, though its cold chain vaccination program had proven capable in prior pandemics.[5] With a totalitarian political system, little information on the pandemic's impacts on North Korea has been available to international observers.
In January 2020, the North Korean government began taking extensive measures to protect itself from the initial COVID-19 epidemic, including the establishment of quarantine facilities, and strict travel restrictions. In March and April 2020, the Asia Times and 38 North reported that these measures seemed largely successful.
Before May 2022, the government of North Korea had not reported any confirmed cases of COVID-19, although some foreign analysts believed that the virus had spread there by March 2020.[6][7] Daily NK, a South Korean dissident-run news website, said that about 180 soldiers had possibly died from COVID-19 symptoms in January and February 2020.[8] In July 2020, a single suspected case in Kaesong prompted a three-week lockdown.
By 2021, there were increasing reports that the isolation imposed to avoid the pandemic was having a major impact on the economy. The country declined several international offers of COVID-19 vaccines, making it one of the few countries not to begin a vaccination programme. North Korea began administering its first vaccine doses in June 2022.[3][4]
In May 2022, the Korean Central News Agency reported that an unspecified number of people in the capital Pyongyang tested positive for the virus, and announced the country's first confirmed deaths. Authorities announced over 1 million North Koreans were suffering from "fever". Kim Jong Un declared a national emergency and a country-wide lockdown.
While NK News asserts that "fever" is used as a substitute for COVID-19 cases,[9] the South Korean National Intelligence Service stated that the total included cases of waterborne diseases,[10] such as measles and typhoid.[11]
In a discreet interview with the BBC through Daily NK, some North Koreans reported an alarming rate of food scarcity, as the country had stopped importing food supplies due to the pandemic. One woman reported her neighbours had died of starvation, and others said they were living in constant fear of death.[12]
On 5 May 2023, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced an end to the COVID-19 global health emergency.[13][14]
Background
North Korea borders China and South Korea, two countries with early outbreaks. China is one of North Korea's closest allies, most important trading partner, and a source of tourists.[15][16] The Chinese-North Korean border is porous, in contrast to the heavily militarized border between North and South Korea. However, suspected COVID-19 cases in the two Chinese provinces bordering North Korea (Liaoning and Jilin) have been low.[7]
Diplomatically and economically isolated,[7] North Korea is an impoverished country with a weak healthcare system and is subject to sanctions, rendering it vulnerable in the event of an outbreak.[17][15] In March 2020, there was concern that the country's widespread malnutrition could exacerbate the spread of COVID-19.[7] In April, North Korean public health official Pak Myong-su said that if the disease spread in North Korea, "a serious disaster could not be avoided".[18] The North Korean government is secretive, and the North Korean media is tightly controlled, making it difficult for observers to determine what is going on in the country.[7]
Historically, North Korea has restricted travel in the face of epidemics abroad, such as SARS in 2003 and the Western African Ebola virus epidemic in 2014.[15][19] It eradicated measles in 2018,[7][20] having a very efficient vaccination program managed by the Central Hygiene and Anti-Epidemic Institute, and the Hygiene and Anti-Epidemic Station, assisted by UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO). Given the supply of COVID-19 vaccines, the program could vaccinate the entire population with a first dose within weeks.[21]
North Korea's government is totalitarian and maintains strict control over the country and its society, which experts anticipated could help in enforcing disease control measures such as social distancing.[7][22] The country has a high number of doctors for its per capita GDP, though they are less skilled and equipped than their counterparts in the Western world and in South Korea. North Korea also has a "somewhat better standard of sanitation" than other countries of the same economic level (e.g. Botswana or Laos).[22]
North Korea announces outbreak
First confirmed cases: May–June 2022
On 12 May 2022, the North Korean government declared a "severe national emergency", after samples from an unspecified number of people tested positive for COVID-19. This marked the first time that North Korea had publicly acknowledged the existence of COVID-19 cases in the country. The Korean Central News Agency stated that Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un had called an emergency meeting of the Politburo of the Workers' Party of Korea after learning of the samples, which were sourced from residents of Pyongyang and had symptoms "consistent with" the Omicron variant. The Politburo recommended the implementation of a "maximum" emergency quarantine, to include nationwide lockdowns, border restrictions, and restrictions on group sizes in workplaces.[92][93][94][95][96] During the politburo meeting, the previous anti-pandemic strategy was criticised.[97][96] NK News reported that the entire country had been placed under a lockdown two days prior, though farmers in border regions close to South Korea were seen still tending the fields.[93] It was later reported by state media that at least one North Korean died after testing positive, and that 187,800 people are now under quarantine due to "fever".[98]
On 13 May, Kim Jong Un held a meeting at the State Emergency Epidemic Prevention Headquarters, where he called for further anti-pandemic work, lockdowns, and isolation of suspected cases. The effort to stop the spread was declared to be a supreme task of the party. The "fever" was noted to have started spreading since late April 2022, with Pyongyang being the centre of the spread.[99] In line with the politburo decision, various enterprises continued to operate normally while organising emergency quarantine procedures.[100] Various major projects, such as the 10,000 residential flats project, were to continue as before.[101] Also, on 13 May, North Korean state media reported 6 deaths and 350,000 cases of fevers.[102]
On 14 May, an additional 174,440 cases of fever were reported, with 81,430 recoveries and 21 deaths. During the politburo conference, Kim Jong Un stated that the current situation was equal to the turmoil from the founding of the country, but the situation could be overcome with strong governance over the situation. According to the report, cases of the virus spreading between different regions had reduced. Emergency drug distribution was also ordered to commence in accordance with the anti-pandemic plan.[103]
On 17 May, it was reported that during the 24-hour period from 15 to 16 May, 269,510 cases of fever were recorded in the country, 170,460 people were cured, and 6 more died. The total officially reported number of cases reached 1,483,060. Out of these, 819,090 recovered from the illness, 663,910 were receiving treatment, and 56 died.[104][105] While case numbers continued to rise in the provincial regions, case numbers began to fall in Pyongyang.[11][106] According to KCTV, out of the 50 deaths reported up to 17 May, 25 were due to inappropriate usage of medicine.[107]
On 19 May, 262,270 cases of fever were reported, with one death.[108] Regional treatment centres had also been set up, with large increases in the number of infected in the South Pyongan and South Hamgyong provinces.[11]
On 20 May, 168 confirmed cases of COVID-19 were reported, with cases of reported fever nearing 2 million, according to NK News.[109]
On 3 June, NK News reported that GAVI had received information that North Korea had started its vaccination rollout with Chinese vaccines, with an anonymous source telling Radio Free Asia that the first doses were being administered to soldiers working in the construction sector.[5] From around June, vehicles had started reappearing in satellite imagery in Pyongyang, which suggested that the lockdown was at least being partially lifted in Pyongyang, with a source alleging that restrictions were relaxed to allow for a few hours of outdoor time every day from late May, though provincial cities appeared to be still locked down.[9]
Reported end of outbreak: August–September 2022
On 5 August 2022, the country reported that it had not seen a fever case for seven consecutive days, and that every fever case had recovered.[110] On 8 August, plans were announced to convene the Supreme People's Assembly in September, moving its members out of isolation. A separate review meeting to discuss a "change in direction" in pandemic response was also announced.[111]
On 11 August, Kim Jong Un's sister, Kim Yo-jong, stated that her brother had had a fever, implying that he had COVID-19 at one point. She also blamed South Korea for the COVID-19 outbreak in the country, claiming that it sent contaminated anti-Pyongyang leaflets to spread the disease.[112]
North Korean media reports indicate that the population have resumed regular activity.[113] On August 25, several sources told NK News that North Korea could possibly allow foreigners into North Korea for the first time since 2020, likely after the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party later in 2022.[114]
In September, however, Kim Jong Un flagged the first rollout of vaccines in November and warned that COVID-19 could reappear in the winter months.[115] The mass vaccination program started in the border areas in late September, making North Korea the last country in the world other than Eritrea to have a mass vaccination program against COVID-19.[116]
Border fortification
In a report published in November 2022, the NGO Human Rights Watch found a marked increase in border fortification in a 7.4 kilometres (4.6 mi) long section of the border around Hoeryong. A HRW staff said that the COVID-19 pandemic had been a pretext in building new fences, guard posts and other infrastructure. Fortifications along wider stretches of the border were reported by Reuters in May 2023.[117]
Border reopening: August–September 2023
On August 22, 2023, a flight from Pyongyang to Beijing arrived, marking the first known international commercial flight to depart from North Korea since the country's borders were closed in January 2020. Additionally, four flights between Pyongyang and Vladivostok, Russia, were scheduled for that month.
On August 27, 2023, the Korean Central News Agency reported that North Korea would allow its citizens living abroad to return to the country for the first time since travel restrictions were imposed in early 2020. However, these returning citizens were still required to undergo a one-week quarantine.[118]
On September 25, 2023, North Korea lifted its travel ban on foreign nationals, as reported by China's CCTV. Foreigners would still be subject to a two-day quarantine upon their arrival.[119]
Impact
North Korean people reported scarcity of food after the strict closing of the border because of the pandemic, in an exclusive interview by the news broadcaster BBC in June 2023. They also reported their neighbors had died from starvation and people there were living in fear of being starved to death.[12]
Sport
The ban on even official travel out of North Korea could also be observed through its non-attendance at international sporting events.
North Korea boycotted the 2020 Summer Olympics (held in summer 2021) and the 2022 Winter Olympics.[b]
In April 2023, North Korean nationals residing in Japan competed for North Korea at the East Asian Karate Championship in Taizhou, China, marking North Korea's first representation in international sport since 2019.[120]
In May 2023, North Korea entered a team for the weightlifting qualifiers in Cuba for the 2024 Summer Olympics,[121] but failed to show up at the event in June 2023, effectively disqualifying the team from the 2024 Summer Olympics.[122]
On August 16, 2023, North Korean athletes traveled from North Korea to Kazakhstan to compete in the 22nd ITF Taekwon-Do World Championships, indicating the end of the travel ban.[123]
