Kone country in the world is as opaque as North Korea. But since Pyongyang admitted a week ago that it was struggling with a dramatic corona crisis, it has shown an unusually large willingness to provide information. Every morning at 9:30 a.m. new numbers of fever patients and deaths are announced, seemingly precisely listed by province and age group. The daily broadcast on state television is conducted by an employee of the newly created emergency center for disease control. Apparently, Pyongyang is following the example of other countries.
As of Friday, North Korea reported more than 2.2 million fever patients and 65 deaths in just eight days. It is not known whether all cases are corona infected. North Korea does not have enough testing capacity.
Experts are reluctant to analyze the data. There is great skepticism as to whether the figures are reliable. According to the United Nations, the consequences for the unvaccinated population, which is also weakened by chronic malnutrition, could be “devastating”. The supposed transparency probably also serves to calm the population. An information broadcast states precisely that the Omicron variant is “75 percent less deadly” than the Delta variant. 93 percent of patients could isolate themselves at home and only 2.8 percent of patients would need ventilation.
![](https://dynamic.faz.net/red/podcastcover/Fru%CC%88hdenker_NewsletterBox.png)
Weekdays at 6:30 a.m
Some North Korea observers suspect that the demonstrative openness is also a signal to the international community. So far, Pyongyang has refused all offers of medical aid and vaccinations. Now everyone is investigating whether the completely isolated country could possibly open up a little. The former long-standing chairman of the German-Korean parliamentary group Hartmut Koschyk has at least “hope that the corona crisis can be an opportunity for the international community to enter into dialogue with North Korea about the humanitarian situation again”.
For comparison, he points to the time after the great famine in the late 1990s, when Pyongyang allowed aid organizations more access than before. “It could be that the sheer need will force the country to open up,” says another observer who does not want to be named. The population at least has the right to have the government take care of them. “If it becomes obvious that she can’t do that, that could become a problem.”
Flexible lockdowns
Observers in South Korea and the United States, on the other hand, consider it impossible that the North Korean crisis could result in the regime opening up for talks. On the other hand, according to American and South Korean assessments, the country is about to undergo another missile test and possibly the seventh nuclear test. “The regime has great reservations about outside help because it would admit the failure of its response to the pandemic,” says Ellen Kim of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington.
In particular, North Korea does not want to accept any help from South Korea in order not to create momentum for talks about abandoning the nuclear weapons program. “North Korea will probably weather the crisis on its own by tightening controls and lockdowns,” says Dae-Jin Jung of Wonju Halla University in South Korea. If the crisis escalates, the country could allow help from China, Russia or international organizations.
For the time being, ruler Kim Jong-un presents himself as the active caretaker and worried father of the nation. He blamed his officials for the desolate situation and demanded that “the weak points, the evils and defects in the disease control work should be remedied immediately”. Kim’s tough lockdown policy has contributed to the country now being left without a vaccine and medical aid.
Officially, lockdowns have been imposed everywhere, but in practice different rules apply depending on the region. According to media reports, residents of the capital Pyongyang have been asked not to leave their homes. In other parts of the country, the restrictions seem to consist mainly of isolating cities and towns from each other. This is reported by South Korean aid organizations that support North Korean refugees in the south.
#Corona #wave #North #Korea #open