SEOUL – The spread of COVID-19 in North Korea is not just bad news for leader Kim Jong Un. By locking up the whole country, he can assert the strength of his regime like never before. He has the right to arrest anyone who is believed to have broken the rules for some reason, whether in search of food or the need to see a friend or seek medicine.
He may also blame a network of health professionals for the bull. Their survival is now in danger. Some of them may be sick after being in contact with victims of the disease, but all must fear for their lives as Kim investigates how the disease broke out on a massive scale. He called for “correcting the deviations found in the supply of medicines” when it is well known that North Korean medical facilities are largely deprived of all kinds of medicines, much less those that can treat COVID-19.
To show his business intent, Kim returned to a well-known source of support, his 1.2 million armed forces, of which he is commander-in-chief. Pyongyang’s Korean Central News Agency said it had issued an order to “immediately stabilize drug supplies in Pyongyang by deploying powerful forces in the People’s Army’s military medical field.”
The military faces draconian punishment if they do not do something quickly to stop a crisis over which they have no real control.
“If all the leading officials do not make an effort and show their tense and fighting spirit,” Kim said, “they cannot take the strategic initiative in the ongoing anti-epidemic war.” They “must not allow the slightest imperfection and vulnerabilities, while maintaining high tension and vigilance in the fierce anti-epidemic war.”
The call to mobilize the armed forces behind the campaign showed disappointment in the struggle, in which they have no experience or power other than the ability to carry out a purge on Kim’s behalf. KCNA has released the broadcast in English as well as Korean, which shows the need to prove that Kim is fully accountable to an international audience.
Kim Jong Un inspected a pharmacy in Pyongyang, pictured without a date, published by the North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on May 15, 2022.
KCNA through Reuters
It’s a simple accusation game, and Kim – who is known for ordering the executions of anyone he suspects is working against him or his interests – will not hesitate to imprison or kill those accused of not being managed to eradicate the disease. He did not say a word about the vaccinations he had given up to potential foreign aid during the pandemic, and he certainly did not accept the help offered by incumbent South Korean President Yun Suk-yol.
It does not matter that the conservative Yun does not link medical care to his demand for the “complete denuclearization” of the North. Kim also turned down proposals for vaccines long before recognizing the pandemic in his own country from Yun’s liberal predecessor, Moon Jae-in, who begged him for dialogue and reconciliation.
“Kim cannot accept any guilt because she is a party of the ‘deity’, the Kim family regime, which is infallible,” said David Maxwell of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. “His deliberate political decision-making made the tragedy worse than it should have been. He gave priority to the development of nuclear and missile programs over the well-being of the Korean people living in the north. “
By shifting the blame, Kim avoids any responsibility for failing to take the basic steps needed to stop the disease from spreading. He keeps himself and his inner circle above reproaches, while lower-ranking bureaucrats are to blame for the country’s betrayal for failing to prevent a disease his regime claims has not erupted anywhere within its borders.
This statement, of course, has never been true. It has always been impossible to imagine that Kim, by closing the border with China shortly after the virus was reported in Wuhan in December 2019, has actually managed to prevent it from invading North Korea. He either denied it, refused to believe what was happening around him, or waged a campaign of deliberate fabrication and misinformation.
Nor is it possible to believe the seemingly factual reports published by his propaganda machine, in particular the party newspaper Rodong Sinmun and the KCNA, which aim to indicate the number of deaths from the disease, the number of victims and the number of cured.
Officials sprayed disinfectant and wiped surfaces as part of preventive measures against the Covid-19 coronavirus at the Children’s Department Store in Pyongyang on March 18, 2022.
Kim Won Jin / AFP via Getty Images
There is no way to confirm these figures, but we can assume that they are much higher than the 1.2 million who suffered from fever and the 50 deaths reported by the North Korean media. NK News, a website in Seoul, said the “fever” is a likely euphemism for the virus, reflecting North Korea’s likely inability to diagnose all positive COVID-19 infections clinically due to limited testing capacity.
What is certain is that North Korea is in the midst of a serious emergency, which provides a great opportunity for Kim to strike harder than ever against his own people. However, the emergency puts him at enormous risk. He may fail to quell widespread discontent with his government and have to fight open opposition. His grip may be weakened or compromised.
“Kim is always deeply worried about his power.”
While “pointing out that the drugs provided by the state were not delivered to the residents through the pharmacies on time”, said KCNA, Kim said that the cabinet and public health officials responsible for the delivery did not roll up their sleeves, not recognizing the current crisis correctly, we are only talking about the spirit of dedicated service to the people. “
Kim even “rebuked the director of the CPU for inaction and negligence in his duties, without feeling any responsibility and compassion and playing no role.”
Such talk is a tangible cover for the simple fact that pharmacy shelves are almost bare, there is no cure for COVID anywhere on earth, and hospitals in the North do not have any of the facilities needed for emergencies.
The reason for this propaganda blitz is that Kim himself is to blame for diverting huge sums of money to a nuclear missile program that demonstrates his own strength, while his health care system is known to be extremely inadequate.
Pyongyang’s small elite is thought to have access to all the medical care it needs, but the vast majority of North Korea’s 26 million people do not have access to care. Reports published by the North Korean media give an optimistic, completely false picture of Kim’s concern for his people.
Kim now faces the risk, as much as she hates the idea, of having to accept foreign aid in the form of vaccines and medical equipment needed to fight the disease. Although he does not say a word about vaccines, he may be forced to take them en masse. If this happens, foreign donors will insist on knowing who gets the vaccines, where and how they are given.
“He fears the outbreak and has taken steps to try to prevent or limit it over the past two years,” said Maxwell, a retired army colonel who has served five special forces tours of South Korea. “He has implemented more draconian measures to control the population and resources on behalf of COVID to further oppress the Korean people.
In these circumstances, however, Kim may have no choice but to allow foreign experts to enter, who, once home, will tell the world how much North Korea is suffering under his rule.
For now, Kim is doing everything possible to prevent the revelation of what is happening and the full extent of the disease. As he wasted huge sums of money on nuclear warheads and missiles to transport them to distant targets, Kim ruthlessly deprived her men of what they needed in terms of medicine, food and much more to survive.
“Kim is always deeply worried about his power because the real threat to him comes not from the United States, as he claims, but from his own people,” said David Straub, a retired senior US diplomat in Seoul. “He purged the leadership under him, killed his uncle and half-brother, and used COVID as an excuse to shut down the rest of the world for more than two years. COVID only contributes to the internal threat against it. “
By controlling the “flow of information,” Straub said, Kim “may or may not receive international vaccines, constantly blaming others, inside and outside North Korea, for everything that went wrong in the country.”
He is currently fighting for his own life as North Korea’s leader. He knows that if he is unable to control the disease, he and his regime may not survive.
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