Disaster in North Korea

North Korea, tragic situation, UK and US slowly stabilising.

UK, alpha wave, patients admitted to hospital

UK, alpha wave, deaths

Omicron started to spread, late April

End of two-year coronavirus blockade, maintained at great economic cost

Omicron in Pyongyang

Factors

Long term malnutrition

Current malnutrition

Untreated long-term diseases

Poor housing

Limited supply of medicines, steroids, antibiotics

Zero vaccination

Little previous infection

Naïve population

Omicron, not delta

(Official Korean Central News Agency)

Kim Jong Un

Covid outbreak is a great disaster for North Korea

causing great upheaval

Announced 51 new fever deaths

First case confirmed Thursday

Had activated maximum emergency quarantine system

Nationwide lockdowns

Up to May 13

1,213,550 cases of fever

More than 524,440 fallen sick with fever

at least 81,430 were fully recovered

Official Korean Central News Agency

Over half a million currently receiving medical treatment

The spread of malignant disease comes to be a great upheaval in our country since the founding of the DPRK

Army to distribute medicines

on immediately stabilising the supply of medicines in Pyongyang

because officials of the Cabinet and public health sector in charge of the supply have not rolled up their sleeves, not properly recognizing the present crisis

strongly criticised the Cabinet and public health sector for their irresponsible work attitude

Leif-Eric Easley, professor, Ewha University in Seoul

The language he's used suggests the situation in North Korea is going to get worse before it gets better

Engagers see this rhetoric preparing the way for international assistance, but Kim may be rallying a population on the verge of further sacrifice

Kim Jong Un, meeting on anti-virus strategies in Pyongyang

Kim, front and centre (39)

minimising the losses in human lives

Country will actively learn from China's pandemic management strategy

not an uncontrollable spread among regions but transmission within areas that had been locked down

Previously turned down offers of Covid vaccines from China and Covax scheme

Beijing and Seoul issued fresh offers of aid and vaccines

Health and healthcare in North Korea: a retrospective study among defectors (Conflict and Health)

Public Health Act, comprehensive free care system

Widespread informal expenditure

Lack of medicines

Extensive self-medication with narcotic analgesics

Party membership

Respondents who could not enjoy political and economic rights were substantially more likely to report illness,

and extremely reduced access to care, even with life-threatening conditions.

Maxar Technologies

New excavation at the Yongbyon facility in North Korea, (plutonium)