North Korea’s dictator Kim Jong-Un declared his country’s victory over Covid-19, state media reported this Thursday (11), still Wednesday night (10) in Brazil. The North Korean also decreed the end of social isolation measures imposed in May by the dictatorship.
Kim, however, is not feeling well and has a high fever, according to his sister, Kim Yo-Jong. This term, by the way, is the one used by the regime to refer to cases of coronavirus, which, according to experts, can be a maneuver to not recognize the possible outbreak of Covid in the country.
“Even seriously ill and with a high fever, he couldn’t lie down, thinking about the people he had to care for,” Yo-Jong said.
Pyongyang has never confirmed cases of Covid, but last Thursday it said about 4.77 million patients with “fever” had fully recovered and 74 had died since April. The number of deaths, reports the dictatorship, is an “unprecedented miracle” compared to other countries.
International organizations, however, attribute the numbers to the limited testing capacity for the disease in the country – if one considers the veracity of the regime’s reports. The WHO (World Health Organization) said last month that it believed the situation in North Korea was getting worse rather than better.
Officially, North Korea has not organized vaccination campaigns against Covid-19. Instead, the country says it relies on lockdowns and home remedy treatments. According to Kim, “Korean’s advantageous socialist system” also made it easier to face the pandemic.
Despite the declaration of victory, the dictator defended the continuation of a “strong anti-epidemic barrier” and said it was necessary to “intensify the work until the end of the global health crisis”. He also highlighted the development of new methods of detecting the virus and its variants, as well as other infectious diseases, with monkeypox.
Analysts interviewed by Reuters point out that Wednesday’s communiqué is aimed at reactivating the country’s economy, which has been held up even further after the cases of “high fever”.
It is also estimated that the eventual outcome of the health crisis in the country will facilitate new tests of missiles produced by Pyongyang, including nuclear ones – which has not happened since 2017. In late July, Kim said that his country was “ready to mobilize” its nuclear deterrence in the face of possible military clashes with the United States and South Korea.
The neighbor, by the way, is responsible for the outbreak of the disease in the country, according to Pyongyang. A month ago, North Korea ordered people to keep an eye out for “alien things that come on the wind and other weather phenomena and balloons in areas along the borders”. North Korean defectors and activists living in South Korea have been releasing balloons for decades, which cross the border carrying leaflets and humanitarian aid.
On Thursday, Yo-Jong again cited this theory and said that Seoul’s “crimes” deserve “strong retaliation”.
