COVID-19 pandemic in North Korea

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COVID-19 pandemic in North Korea
Disease	COVID-19
Virus strain	SARS-CoV-2
Location	North Korea
First outbreak	Wuhan, Hubei, China
Index case	Pyongyang
Arrival date	8 May 2022 (2022-05-08) (2 years, 7 months, 2 weeks and 4 days ago)[1]
Confirmed cases	168[2]
Deaths	74[a][3][4]

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History of North Korea
Division of Korea 1945–48 People's Republic of  Korea 1945–1946 Soviet Civil  Administration 1945–1948 Provisional People's  Committee of North  Korea 1946–1948
Kim Il Sung 1948–1994 Korean War 1950–53 Korean DMZ Conflict 1966–1969 Juche 1972 1993–1994 nuclear  crisis 1993–1994 Death and state  funeral of  Kim Il Sung 1994
Kim Jong Il 1994–2011 North Korean famine 1994–1998 Songun 1998 Sunshine Policy 1998–2010 Six-party talks 2003 ROKS Cheonan sinking 2010 Death and state  funeral of  Kim Jong Il 2011
Kim Jong Un 2011–present State Affairs  Commission 2016 2017–2018 North  Korean crisis 2017–2018 Korean peace process 2018–2019 COVID-19 pandemic 2019–2023
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The COVID-19 pandemic in North Korea was part of a global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a novel infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). North Korea confirmed its first case on 8 May 2022.

North Korea is a secretive and diplomatically isolated country in East Asia. Its weak healthcare system and impoverished population led to concerns over the country's vulnerability to an outbreak, though its cold chain vaccination program had proven capable in prior pandemics.^[5] With a totalitarian political system, little information on the pandemic's impacts on North Korea has been available to international observers.

In January 2020, the North Korean government began taking extensive measures to protect itself from the initial COVID-19 outbreak, including the establishment of quarantine facilities, and strict travel restrictions. In March and April 2020, the Asia Times and 38 North reported that these measures seemed largely successful.

Before May 2022, the government of North Korea had not reported any confirmed cases of COVID-19, although some foreign analysts believed that the virus had spread there by March 2020.^[6][7] Daily NK, a South Korean dissident-run news website, said that about 180 soldiers had possibly died from COVID-19 symptoms in January and February 2020.^[8] In July 2020, a single suspected case in Kaesong prompted a three-week lockdown.^[9]

By 2021, there were increasing reports that the isolation imposed to avoid the pandemic was having a major impact on the economy. The country declined several international offers of COVID-19 vaccines, making it one of the few countries not to begin a vaccination programme. North Korea began administering its first vaccine doses in June 2022.^[3][4]

In May 2022, the Korean Central News Agency reported that an unspecified number of people in the capital Pyongyang tested positive for the virus, and announced the country's first confirmed deaths. Authorities announced over 1 million North Koreans were suffering from "fever". Kim Jong Un declared a national emergency and a country-wide lockdown.

While NK News asserts that "fever" is used as a substitute for COVID-19 cases,^[10] the South Korean National Intelligence Service stated that the total included cases of waterborne diseases,^[11] such as measles and typhoid.^[12]

In a discreet interview with the BBC through Daily NK, some North Koreans reported an alarming rate of food scarcity, as the country had stopped importing food supplies due to the pandemic. One woman reported her neighbours had died of starvation, and others said they were living in constant fear of death.^[13]

On 5 May 2023, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced an end to the COVID-19 global health emergency.^[14][15]

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