{"id":5882,"date":"2022-07-04T12:23:30","date_gmt":"2022-07-04T03:23:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/?p=5882"},"modified":"2022-07-25T09:50:17","modified_gmt":"2022-07-25T00:50:17","slug":"korona-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/2022\/07\/recommendations\/korona-12\/","title":{"rendered":"\uff1cInside N. Korea\uff1eInvestigating N. Korea\u2019s COVID-19 Situation (1)\u2026Some areas of N. Hamgyung Province suffer a death rate of 3-5%\u2026Nobody believes the government\u2019s statistics\u2026Increasing deaths of children and elderly people"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A KCTV broadcast on May 14 informing viewers of North Korea\u2019s COVID-19 situation.<\/p><\/div>\n

The North Korean regime acknowledged an outbreak of COVID-19 on May 12. On June 30, around 50 days after the announcement, the National Emergency Quarantine Command released a report stating that of the 4,744,430 fever patients reported, 4,736,220 had recovered, while only 73 people had died. However, there is increasing doubt in North Korea about these figures, including criticism that the data is being fabricated. ASIAPRESS recently conducted an investigation through its reporting partners in the northern region of the country to find out how many people had died in their residential districts since May 12. The investigation found that many people suffering from preexisting conditions - largely due to malnutrition - are dying from COVID-19. (ISHIMARU Jiro, Kang Ji-won<\/em>)<\/p>\n

\u25c6 Inminban: A source of information about COVID-19 deaths<\/h2>\n

The investigation covered three cities and seven areas of Yanggang and North Hamgyung provinces, focusing on the number of people who had died from May 12 to June 20 based on information gleaned by reporting partners from their own inminban and inminban in nearby neighborhoods.<\/p>\n

Inminban are North Korea\u2019s lowest administrative unit and are generally made up of 20-30 households. They transmit orders given by local district offices to the people, and are tasked with monitoring in detail the \u201ctrends\u201d among the people to report to higher authorities.<\/p>\n

After the Kim Jong-un regime acknowledged the COVID-19 outbreak, the heads of inminban and quarantine officials went around to each household to test their occupants for fevers two to three times a day. People with fevers were generally forced to isolate in their homes given the authorities believed that they may have been infected with COVID-19.<\/p>\n

The authorities have handled the transfer and cremation of dead bodies through the inminban, with means inminban have collected and reported the number of deaths that occurred among their households on a daily basis. In short, reporting partners are well-placed to understand how many people have died based on numbers collected by the inminban in their residential districts.<\/p>\n

The investigation faced several constraints, however.<\/p>\n

1<\/strong>   There\u2019s no way to know whether someone died of COVID-19 or not.<\/p>\n

\u30fbPCR tests and other ways of diagnosing COVID-19 have been rarely used in North Korea, although they may be in use in the capital of Pyongyang and among high-ranking officials. As such, there is a high likelihood that disease control authorities outside of Pyongyang have been unable to identify the cause of deaths that have occurred in their areas.<\/p>\n

\u30fbReporting partners judged whether themselves or someone around them was infected by COVID-19 based on the general symptoms associated with COVID-19. Their judgements are no more than guesses.<\/p>\n

2<\/strong>   The investigation had geographical limitations.<\/p>\n

\u30fbThe sample size of the investigation was small, as it took place only in Yanggang and North Hamgyung provinces. ASIAPRESS did not receive information from other regions or from Pyongyang.<\/p>\n

Readers should keep the aforementioned limitations of the investigation in mind while reading the following report.<\/p>\n

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An example of North Korea\u2019s overexaggerated efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19. In the photo, people are wearing protective suits while working to repair a dyke along the Yalu River. Taken by ASIAPRESS in October 2020.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u25c6 Some inminban suffer death rates of 3-5%<\/h2>\n

\u201cCity A\u201d in North Hamgyung Province<\/strong><\/p>\n

Inminban are made up of an average of 20 households, which comes out to around 50-60 people. Our inminban suffered three deaths, while two inminban nearby suffered 4 and 5 deaths, respectively. I\u2019ve heard that there was even an inminban that suffered 5-7 deaths.<\/p>\n

I think that most people in \u201cCity A\u201d have been infected with COVID-19. I did, too. There were even cases that occurred among those mobilized for farm work. People with fevers are quarantined at home and (the authorities) come around to disinfect their homes. Fever patients are given Chinese-made fever reducers, but that\u2019s the limit of government involvement. As of late June, the state doesn\u2019t do much of anything for people who have gotten infected. The authorities seem to think there\u2019s not much of a problem under the belief that people will suffer for a day or two before getting better. Quarantine rules, however, are still strictly enforced.<\/p>\n

The authorities rarely hand down diagnoses about whether someone has died from COVID-19 or not. Since most people who have died had suffered from preexisting conditions, the authorities just claim the people died from those preexisting illnesses. There have even been people who have died of starvation. The biggest issue facing people now is the lack of money to buy food. Most people eat just twice a day, but there are even those who are forced to eat just once a day. Life (for many people) has gotten really hard when you add COVID-19 on top of everything else.
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\u25c6 Fewer elderly people<\/h2>\n

\u201cCity B\u201d in North Hamgyung Province<\/strong><\/p>\n

My inminban is made up of 27 households. Six people, including a child, have died. An average of 2-4 people have died in nearby inminban, while one inminban has suffered more than 5 deaths. The authorities, however, have not ruled that the deaths were due to COVID-19. I think that many of the people who died were already suffering from preexisting illnesses, and the authorities are claiming that the deaths were due to these illnesses.<\/p>\n

When people are suspected of having died from COVID-19, the dead bodies are cremated on the government\u2019s dime. I\u2019ve heard the authorities generally announce that the deaths are due to tuberculosis or pneumonia.<\/p>\n

The lack of medicine has led to many child deaths. The authorities are supposed to hand out one day\u2019s worth of fever reducers to people with fevers; however, there\u2019s a lack of medicine for children, so they are getting adults-only fever reducers instead. I\u2019ve heard there are children who lose their hearing or can no longer speak because of high fevers that can\u2019t be treated because of the lack of medicine.<\/p>\n

A great deal of elderly people have also died. Many died due to the lack of medicine following the lockdown of cities in May. Now they are dying of COVID-19 as well. There\u2019s been a marked decrease of elderly people aged 70 and above seen on the streets.<\/p>\n

\u25c6 Officials conceal COVID-19 deaths to avoid responsibility<\/h2>\n

Nobody trusts the government\u2019s announcements about how many deaths have occurred due to COVID-19. In my view, because provincial party organizations have managed efforts quarantine efforts in each area, cadres have been avoiding taken responsibility for deaths.<\/p>\n

The central government is also trying to fool the people. A Central Committee cadre visited \u201cCity B\u201d from Pyongyang to manage disease control efforts when the city was locked down. They just claim that people have died of preexisting conditions, not COVID-19, because it would cause problems for them if there\u2019s many COVID-19 deaths. The statistics released by the government is completely different from the reality.<\/p>\n

The economy is in very bad shape. Most people live on one or two meals a day, while only rich people eat three meals a day, or at least that\u2019s what people say. People can\u2019t earn money because businesses are suffering, so everyone is just waiting for the state to step in and provide them with food.  (Continued in the next installment \u2193<\/strong>)<\/p>\n

fa-arrow-circle-right<\/span><\/i><\/span>\uff1cInside N. Korea\uff1eInvestigating N. Korea\u2019s COVID-19 Situation (2)<\/strong>\u2026Deaths in Yanggang Province\u2026Authorities lift ban on vehicular movement between cities<\/a><\/p>\n

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