Russia’s embassy in North Korea says the country has relaxed strict epidemic controls in the capital Pyongyang that were put in place over the past five days to curb the spread of respiratory diseases.
North Korea has not officially recognized a lockdown in Pyongyang or a resurgence of COVID-19 after leader Kim Jong Un declared a widely disputed victory over the coronavirus in August, but Facebook posts from the Russian embassy have provided little glimpses. secret country infectious disease common. disease controls.
The embassy released a notice issued by North Korea’s Foreign Ministry on Monday informing foreign diplomats that the “intensified anti-epidemic period” imposed on Pyongyang since Wednesday was lifted from Monday.
Last week, the embassy said North Korean health authorities required diplomatic missions to keep their employees indoors and also measure their temperatures four times a day and report the results to a hospital in Pyongyang. He said North Korea’s measures were in response to an increase in “influenza and other respiratory illnesses” but did not mention the spread of COVID-19 or the restrictions placed on ordinary citizens.
Shortly before that publication, NK News, a North Korea-focused news website, cited a North Korean government advisory to report that health officials had imposed a five-day lockdown on Pyongyang in an effort to stop the spread of respiratory diseases.
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North Korean state media did not mention any preventative measures specifically related to COVID-19, as it tightened restrictions in Pyongyang last week. But on Wednesday, the state-run Korean Central News Agency said North Korean health workers have “redoubled” their efforts to prevent the spread of infectious diseases and firmly maintain an “anti-epidemic atmosphere” in the whole of society to cope with the “daily worsening”. global health crisis”.
“(Health care workers) are directing major efforts to consolidate the epidemic barrier and intensify medical examination and disinfection to prevent the outbreak and spread of viral respiratory diseases, including influenza,” the agency said. “They also make it a daily routine to measure the temperature and sterilize the hands of people in crowded places and ensure the accuracy of the medical examination.”
North Koreans visit the statues of late leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang, North Korea, on January 22, 2023. Russia’s embassy in North Korea says the country has eased epidemic controls that were put in place to slow the spread of respiratory diseases. diseases
(AP Photo/Cha Song Ho, File)
Getting a read on the virus situation in North Korea is difficult, as the country has been hermetically locked down since early 2020, with officials imposing strict border controls, barring entry to tourists and aid workers, and expelling diplomats as they march. they strive to protect their failing health care system.
North Korea’s admission of a COVID-19 outbreak in May last year came after it spent two and a half years refusing outside offers of vaccines and other aid while adamantly asserting that its socialist system was protecting its population from a “evil” virus that had killed millions elsewhere. .
South Korea’s Unification Ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs, said the number of foreign missions currently active in North Korea would be 10 or less, a list that includes missions from China, Vietnam and Cuba along with the embassy. Russian.
North Korean state media in recent weeks has emphasized vigilance against a possible resurgence of COVID-19. The official Rodong Sinmun newspaper, which previously described the anti-virus campaign as the “number one priority” in national affairs, called on North Koreans to maintain a “high crisis feeling” on Monday as COVID-19 continues to spread in neighboring countries. . .
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Some analysts say North Korea may be taking preemptive measures as it prepares to host large public events in Pyongyang, possibly next week, to glorify Kim’s authoritarian leadership and the expansion of his nuclear weapons and missile program.
Recent commercial satellite imagery indicated preparations for a massive military parade in Pyongyang, likely to mark the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Korean People’s Army on February 8, an occasion Kim could use to display his growing collection of missile-capable missiles. nuclear.
Satellite images taken on Friday indicate marching practices are continuing at a training site in southeast Pyongyang despite the reported closure, according to 38 North, a website specializing in North Korea studies. But no activities were seen at Kim Il Sung Square in the central part of the city, where the country often hosts military parades, according to the report.
Some outside experts linked the 2022 COVID-19 outbreak in North Korea to a massive military parade in April, where Kim vowed to speed up the development of nuclear weapons and threatened to use them if provoked.
North Korea maintains it has had no confirmed cases of COVID-19 since Aug. 10, when Kim used a major political conference to declare the country had eradicated the coronavirus, just three months after the country acknowledged an omicron outbreak. .
While Kim claimed the country’s supposed success against the virus would be recognized as a global health miracle, experts believe North Korea has manipulated revelations about its outbreak to help him maintain complete control.
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From May to August, North Korea reported around 4.8 million “fever cases” in its population of 26 million, but only identified a fraction of them as COVID-19. Experts say the country’s official death toll of 74 is abnormally small, considering the country’s lack of public health tools.
North Korea has dubiously insisted that rival South Korea was responsible for its COVID-19 outbreak, saying the virus was carried by anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets and other materials that flew across the border in balloons launched by South Korean civilian activists. South Korea has dismissed such claims as unscientific and “ridiculous.”
