Kim Orders Lockdown After North Korea Reports First Covid Case
Kim ordered “all cities and counties across the country to thoroughly lockdown their areas,”
(Bloomberg) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered all cities to be put under lockdown after the state for the first time Thursday said it has Covid-19 in its borders.
“A serious situation has been created due to the introduction of a stealth omicron mutant virus into our precincts,” its official Korean Central News Agency said. At a party meeting attended by Kim, authorities elevated the country’s national quarantine measures to “maximum emergency,” it added.
Kim ordered “all cities and counties across the country to thoroughly lockdown their areas,” so as to “completely block the transmission of malicious virus,” according to KCNA.
Until Thursday, Kim’s regime had denied it had any Covid cases, a claim doubted by experts in the U.S., Japan and other countries. It has also refused vaccines from the outside world, with reports saying planned shipments have been put on hold because North Korea was unwilling to follow rules by Covax, a body backed by the World Health Organization.
In August 2020, North Korea said it was pushing ahead with the development of a vaccine against the virus, but has given scant mention of vaccines since then. Any Covid-19 outbreak in North Korea, if widespread, could potentially be devastating given the country has an antiquated health care system and likely no vaccines. A recent United Nations report said North Korea and Eritrea are the only two countries in the world that have not administered vaccines.
“They have no other choice but to impose lockdowns like China at this point, as they have no treatment drugs and no one has been vaccinated,” Lee Sang-keun, director of strategic research at the Institute for National Security Strategy, which is affiliated with South Korea’s spy agency.
What We Know About Omicron and Its Subvariant BA.2: QuickTake
The outbreak may also help answer a pressing question about the severity of the highly infectious omicron variant that’s currently circling the world, although North Korea may not allow outside health officials after shunning foreigners during the pandemic.
Scientists are split about whether the strain is less dangerous than the original pathogen that emerged in Wuhan in late 2019, or whether vaccinations and immunity from previous infections has neutered its impact.
North Korea’s drastic Covid containment measures have worsened the regime’s economic woes, particularly the border closure more than two years ago with China, its biggest trade partner. Along with international sanctions, the measures have walloped sanctions-hit North Korea’s economy.
“It is extremely unusual for North Korea to have a meeting in the morning, followed by an immediate disclosure of the result via its state media,” said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.
“It could be an indirect message that Pyongyang is willing to cooperate with the international community when it comes to the coronavirus,” Yang said, adding they could include humanitarian assistance from South Korea and the US that could “ultimately foster” resumption of talks between Pyongyang and Washington.
South Korea’s presidential office said it was open to providing humanitarian assistance to North Korea, without elaborating.
Virus Inroads
During its party meeting, North Korea reported that it found the omicron variant from samples collected from an unnamed group in Pyongyang on Sunday, according to KCNA.
Lee, with the national security institute, said there are a number of routes the virus could have made inroads into North Korea, including via the North Korea-China rail freight line, though that was recently halted after China locked down its border city of Dandong.
“There is the Nampo sea port route. And, while they say so, smuggling isn’t 100% controlled,” Lee said, adding that there are also rivers along the border that are shallow enough for people to walk across.
The outbreak could derail Pyongyang’s efforts to conduct a nuclear weapons test, Yang, with the University of North Korean Studies, said.
“We can’t completely rule out the possibility North Korea postponing the planned nuclear test, because of the virus situation,” Yang said. “However, if there’s a wide spread of fear among people, officials in Pyongyang may take a tougher stance and proceed with more provocations to turn people’s attention away from the virus issue.”
(Updates throughout with analyst and KCNA comments)
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