{"id":5854,"date":"2022-06-13T10:59:41","date_gmt":"2022-06-13T01:59:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/?p=5854"},"modified":"2022-06-14T14:36:36","modified_gmt":"2022-06-14T05:36:36","slug":"korona-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/2022\/06\/society-economy\/korona-10\/","title":{"rendered":"A glimpse into North Korea\u2019s COVID-19 situation (1)\u3000The elderly and young are dying\u2026The authorities determine infections using just temperature checks\u2026Most people are recovering from their symptoms"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A KCTV broadcast on May 14 informing viewers of North Korea\u2019s COVID-19 situation.<\/p><\/div>\n

It has been a month since the Kim Jong-un regime acknowledged an outbreak of COVID-19. North Korean authorities have been releasing the number of new fever cases, recoveries and people undergoing medical treatment on a daily basis; however, they have stopped releasing information about deaths. It is unclear whether the data released by the government is accurate, and whether fever cases refer to people infected with COVID-19. There is so little information available, it is impossible to know the real COVID-19 situation in the country and how the authorities are responding. ASIAPRESS received reports from several reporting partners in the northern part of the country in early June. (KANG Ji-won, ISHIMARU Jiro<\/em>)<\/p>\n

\u25c6 The authorities simply use temperature checks to determine infections<\/h2>\n

\u201cA\u201d lives in Yanggang Province in an apartment with his family. \u201cB\u201dis a party member who lives in a city in North Hamgyung Province.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u2015\u2015 How are the authorities conducting temperature checks?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:<\/strong> \u3000The head of the inminban (people\u2019s unit) and a member of the \u201cemergency quarantine team\u201d go around to each household in the inminban to check people\u2019s temperatures 2-3 times per day. They say that the government will provide masks and medicine if people self-report they have fevers.<\/p>\n

\u203b Emergency quarantine teams were created after the government acknowledged the COVID-19 outbreak and are made up of disease control officials, police officials, secret police officials, and party and government officials. The teams visit households and crackdown on people who break bans on movement and other regulations.
\n\u203b Inminban are North Korea\u2019s lowest administrative unit and are made up of 20-40 households.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u2015\u2015 What happens to people with fevers?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:<\/strong> \u3000They are isolated and can\u2019t leave their houses for any reason. No one is allowed to visit them and officials talk to them from outside their doors to check how they are. Around a week after they begin their quarantine, officials check their temperatures. If their fevers have subsided, they are registered as having been \u201ccured.\u201d While registered as \u201cpeople with fevers,\u201d even the heads of their inminban are not allowed to come in contact with them, which means their temperatures are not taken during that period.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u2015\u2015 How do the authorities place people in quarantine?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:<\/strong>\u3000 Most are quarantined at home. People who live by themselves are put into isolation facilities. There\u2019s no set period in which people are quarantined. The authorities are saying that symptoms (of COVID-19) improve after a week to 10 days, and the quarantine period ends once fevers subside.<\/p>\n

\u25c6 \u201cI also got infected by COVID-19\u201d<\/h2>\n

\u2015\u2015 It seems the authorities are basing their diagnoses on whether people have fevers or not. Do they conduct PCR tests to determine whether people have COVID-19?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:<\/strong>\u3000 Not at all. All they do is conduct temperature checks. People with difficulties breathing or serious symptoms go to the hospital, but there\u2019s no particular medical treatment they receive there. I hear they are simply given fever reducers through IV and cold medicine.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u2015\u2015 How are you doing?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:<\/strong> \u3000I also got infected by COVID-19. I had a hard time after getting a fever, but recovered eight days later. I received a medicine called paracetamol from my inminban. There are tons of people with fevers. However, most are recovering. People want the lockdowns to be lifted as soon as possible. The atmosphere of tension has subsided compared to the beginning (of the lockdowns).<\/p>\n

\u203b He doesn\u2019t know if he actually got infected with COVID-19 because he was never tested for the virus. Paracetamol is a commonly available fever reducer.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u2015\u2015 Tell us about the situation in the district you\u2019re living.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:<\/strong>\u3000 I heard from the head of my inminban on June 6 that we have six people in serious condition, 12 people who have recovered, and seven people who have symptoms (of the coronavirus).<\/p>\n

\u203b One inminban appears to be made up of around 40-100 people.<\/p>\n

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Map of North Korea ( ASIAPRESS)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u25c6 Sickly, malnourished elderly people are dying<\/h2>\n

\u2015\u2015 Have there been any deaths?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:\u3000<\/strong> People have died here and there, but I don\u2019t know any specifics. From June 4 to June 6, four people died among people I know who live nearby. I heard people who are sickly and suffering from malnourishment are dying of the virus. Even children are dying.<\/p>\n

Our inminban head distributed a message she wrote herself. It said: \u201cNothing can be done about people who died with preexisting conditions. COVID-19 is causing pain throughout the entire world. Nothing can be done about people who died because they didn\u2019t self-report they were sick.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u2015\u2015 What happens when people die?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:<\/strong> \u3000All those who die are cremated. Their families aren\u2019t allowed to see the bodies. Cremation costs RMB 150-200, and the expenses are covered by the government at this point. I\u2019ve heard that there\u2019s not enough gas to burn the bodies properly, and their bones are crushed with hammers before being returned to their families.<\/p>\n

\u203b RMB 100 equals around KRW 19,000<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cB,\u201d who lives in a city in North Hamgyung Province, gave ASIAPRESS some information about deaths in the country in early June.<\/p>\n

B:<\/strong> \u3000There are many people (suspected) of having COVID-19. Many of those who have died are elderly people and children. Many people died due to the lack of medicine before the spread of the virus. Now, those elderly people who survived are dying of COVID-19. There are many people who have recovered from their fevers, so many believe that COVID-19 is \u201cnot a big deal.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u203b It is impossible to confirm whether they died of COVID-19 or not.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u2015\u2015We\u2019ve heard that people are dying of hunger as well.<\/strong><\/p>\n

B:<\/strong>\u3000 The government handed down 15 days\u2019 worth of corn to all households in late May. There\u2019s probably been no starvation deaths after that time.<\/p>\n

\u203b 15 days\u2019 worth of food was distributed free-of-charge in Hyesan, Yanggang Province, on around May 25.<\/p>\n

\u203b ASIAPRESS communicates with its reporting partners through Chinese cell phones smuggled into North Korea.<\/p>\n

 
\nfa-arrow-circle-right<\/span><\/i><\/span>A glimpse into North Korea\u2019s COVID-19 situation (2)\u3000<\/strong>Urban lockdowns are slowly being lifted, and people in areas where lockdowns have ended are being sent to farms<\/a><\/p>\n


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