{"id":5947,"date":"2022-09-04T07:00:39","date_gmt":"2022-09-03T22:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/?p=5947"},"modified":"2022-09-24T17:56:00","modified_gmt":"2022-09-24T08:56:00","slug":"korona-17","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/2022\/09\/politics\/korona-17\/","title":{"rendered":"\uff1cLocal Interview\uff1eIs N. Korea\u2019s \u201cvictory of COVID-19\u201d legit? (3) As Kim Yo-jong\u2019s claim that COVID-19 was imported by defectors whips up hatred against the South"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A North Korean standing besides a barbed-wire fence built on the border with China to prevent the spread of COVID-19 into the country. Taken by ASIAPRESS in July 2021.<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/i><\/span>\uff1cLocal Interviews\uff1eIs N. Korea\u2019s \u201cvictory over COVID-19\u201d legit? (1)<\/strong> Fever patients still emerge\u2026People believe the country has achieved herd immunity<\/a><\/p>\n

\u25c6 ASIAPRESS\u2019s second report from North Hamgyung Province<\/h2>\n

Kim Jong-un declared on August 10 that the country had achieved victory of the COVID-19 pandemic. The country has not released data on deaths due to the virus since. What, however, are the realities in the country? In the third installment of this series, ASIAPRESS spoke to a reporting partner, \u201cE,\u201d who lives in a city close to the Chinese border. \u201cE\u201d is a laborer who conducts military-related work. (KANG Ji-won \/ ISHIMARU Jiro<\/em>)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u2015\u2015 Are COVID-19-related restrictions still continuing?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve relaxed quite a bit. First of all, there\u2019s no more daily temperature checks conducted by neighborhood watch units, and people voluntarily report their fevers to the authorities. Usually, people go into self-isolation for around four days and can leave once their fevers go down. Disinfections and lockdowns are limited to just houses where they\u2019re have been fever patients. There\u2019s been no lockdowns of entire areas.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u2015\u2015 Has COVID-19 been eliminated?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s still fever patients emerging, but people don\u2019t care anymore. I got the virus, and so did all those around me. It\u2019s hard to find anyone who hasn\u2019t contracted it. When talking to disease control officials, they say that there\u2019s not much of a spread of the virus anymore. They say that the leadership has been told that people who\u2019ve recovered from the virus no longer contract it even if they come into contract with someone who has been infected.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u2015\u2015 What about restrictions on movement?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cPeople aren\u2019t allowed to leave the city, nor are they allowed to come here. That\u2019s particular the case in the (China-North Korea) border region. The authorities are telling people to be careful because there is still the chance that the virus could enter from China. The strict ban on approaching the Tumen River is still being enforced.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u2015\u2015 So, people must be much more relaxed now?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems like the COVID-19 situation will be ok for the time being, but the problem is people\u2019s livelihoods. Nothing is operating as it should, and people no longer have incomes from the local markets. People are hoping that factory production will restart so that products can be exported to China and food can be imported into the country, but the Chinese don\u2019t seem interested in permitting this because of the COVID-19 situation in our borders.\u201d<\/p>\n

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A woman in a rural area carrying a large bag while walking besides a farm field. Taken by ASIAPRESS in mid-July 2021.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u25c6 The regime claims that defectors sent the coronavirus into N. Korea<\/h2>\n

What was particularly interesting about the report made by \u201cE\u201d was the popular response to Kim Yo-jong\u2019s speech on August 10. Kim claimed that it was clear that the virus had entered North Korea through South Korean goods, and that defector organizations had sent the virus into the country on propaganda leaflets.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u2015\u2015 Kim Yo-jong made a speech claiming that South Korean defectors had sent COVID-19 into North Korea.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIs what she said true? I don\u2019t really know. People who have been ill affected by COVID-19 are really angry. There\u2019s people who call the defectors traitors, asking how they could have sent the virus into the country when they still have family here.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u2015\u2015 People with relatives in South Korea must be in a tight spot.<\/strong>
\n\u201cKim Yo-jong\u2019s statement has made it difficult for people with defector relatives to walk around openly. There\u2019s been arguments over other things that spill over into people calling them \u2018traitors\u2019 and \u2018turncoats.\u2019 Even people who, just some time ago, were expressing envy over defector families getting money from their relatives in South Korea, are criticizing them. Defector families are facing considerable trouble over all this.<\/p>\n

The COVID-19 pandemic caused the closure of the border with China for more than two years now. There\u2019s been deaths and a lot of people suffering due to hunger. There\u2019s a lot of people angry at defectors.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\u25c6 The COVID-19 situation is stabilizing<\/h2>\n

While ASIAPRESS doesn\u2019t receive enough information from Pyongyang or other areas of the country to make firm conclusions about the COVID-19 situation there, testimony from its four reporting partners in the northern part of the country suggest that after May a massive rise in COVID-19 cases led to what appears to be the country\u2019s achievement of herd immunity. As of late August, it\u2019s clear that the COVID-19 situation has stabilized considerably.<\/p>\n

The reporting partners say that there are still a small number of fever patients and those in self-isolation. This suggests that the country hasn\u2019t yet achieved \u201cCOVID zero\u201d; however, the situation does appear to have stabilized a great deal.<\/p>\n

The challenge North Koreans face now is the rebuilding of their lives. The Kim Jong-un regime\u2019s disease control measures over the past two years and seven months have clearly been excessive, causing massive negative side effects. The government\u2019s adherence to a zero COVID policy \u2013 including the closure of the borders in January 2020, the dramatic downsizing of trade with China, and bans on movement and goods \u2013 led to economic paralysis and severe shortages of necessities.<\/p>\n

North Korea\u2019s shortage of medications means that many children and the elderly died, and many people fell into poverty after seeing large reductions in their incomes. There has also been a massive increase in people suffering from malnutrition. All in all, North Korea is facing a clear humanitarian crisis. (END)<\/p>\n

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

 <\/p>\n

<\/i><\/span>\uff1cLocal Interviews\uff1eIs N. Korea\u2019s \u201cvictory over COVID-19\u201d legit? (1)<\/strong> Fever patients still emerge\u2026People believe the country has achieved herd immunity<\/a>
\n<\/i><\/span>\uff1cLocal Interviews\uff1e Is N. Korea\u2019s \u201cvictory over COVID-19\u201d legit? (2)<\/strong> \u201cCadres are now contracting the virus\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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