4 reasons why North Korea is now telling us corona will strike: “panic”

North Korea has suddenly been open about the corona situation in the country in recent days. Leader Kim Jong-un even spoke of a “major disaster”. But experts say in a conversation with NU.nl that the closed country has its own reasons for suddenly releasing the figures. At the same time, it seems like something is really going on in the country, “and it’s so big that it’s undeniable.”

Remco Breuker, a Korean expert at Leiden University, said: “I am certainly concerned. “Being a North Korean is not easy in the best of times, but certainly not now,” he said.

According to Breuker, there are several reasons why North Korea is now open about its corona situation. “The first communication from the state news agency shows that the most contagious variant of omicron has struck the elite in the capital,” said the Korean expert. “I think they’re panicking,” he said.

He thinks North Korea has somehow always managed to keep the situation under control over the past two years. Even then, the North Koreans suffered a lot, but the current situation does not seem to last despite drastic measures.

“Few people think that North Korea has been corona-free all this time, despite the fact that it closed so quickly and was able to suppress things in the beginning,” said Korean expert Casper van der Veen. According to him, the country is lucky that it is completely corona-free, partly because it shares a 1,400 kilometer long border with China.

Van der Veen points out that North Korea currently publishes very little information. His numbers aren’t very reliable either. “We have no idea how serious the situation is.”

Speech by Kim Jong-un on North Korean television.

Politics also plays a role

Breuker believes that another reason North Korea has released information about the situation is that it has aggressively positioned itself abroad. North Korea, for example, resumed missile tests last week and preparations for a nuclear test are underway. As a result, he says he can afford to be a little thinner too. “It sounds paradoxical, but it’s also typical of how North Korea came to be,” he said.

Breuker also points to the “difficult period” North Korea is going through. For example, the border with China was tightly closed, which led to food shortages. As a result, the country has little resilience: food shortages are not covered and there is also a lack of medicines or resources to treat people. “It was already less, but now even less.”

According to Van der Veen, the reason for the opening is also the situation in North Korea itself. “There really does seem to be something going on, and it’s so big there’s no denying it.”

Van der Veen explains that health care in the country is completely unprepared for a corona epidemic. For example, there is no huge testing capacity, which means that many people with a fever cannot be tested for corona. Also, as far as we know, no one has been vaccinated “except maybe a few members of the elite”.

Malnutrition from shortages and food shortages in hospitals means that the situation “has all the ingredients to make it very bad”.

It’s unclear whether North Korea will accept aid

‘I also think they realize that help has to come if they don’t want to sink,’ says Breuker. Russia, China and South Korea have already pledged aid.

Whether North Korea will accept this aid, according to Breuker, depends on the seriousness of the situation. “They want to accept it in principle, otherwise they would never have published it. But on your terms. And we don’t know what’s going to happen.”

Van der Veen also doubts whether North Korea will accept foreign aid. “They have been very afraid in recent years to take things from abroad so that the virus doesn’t come.” For example, the country had previously rejected donations from China, South Korea and the COVAX vaccination program. “North Korea could certainly use the aid, but it is unclear whether it will accept it.”