How North Korea Battles Corona virus spread?

Worldwide fatalities topping 10,234, and with more death being reported every day in Europe, the corona virus is presenting humanity with an unprecedented threat. With the emergence of Europe as the new epicentre than Asia since the outbreak first emerged in China in December 2019, the onus now lies on countries everywhere to "come together as one against a common enemy: an enemy against humanity."

Against this background, how is North Korea, the most isolated nation in the world coping with this menace? Virtually a closed country, it is hard to get information about this secluded country and whatever information comes out of it are state managed and thus not credible. Yet, some assessment can be made.  

The spread of the virus has caused havoc in all financial capitals of the world and disrupted economic activities, including daily lives of the people. Like the rest of the world, the North Korean economy is equally hurt as a result of the virus as economies are composed of different sectors, actors, and dynamics, which are interconnected and the dynamics mean they are complex. No one has an answer at present how long the current crisis will last and   how it will affect behaviour in North Korea’s major export market (China) or the supply of inputs and consumer goods from China. Much of the world faces a demand shock, and lots of businesses providing goods/services suddenly see demand collapse (hospitality, tourism, travel, etc.

As a response to the spread of the virus, North Korea was quick to close borders and banned foreign tourists as early as January 2020. The outbreak has scuppered North Korea’s hopes of earning hard currency from Chinese visitors to a brand-new ski resort town and other facilities it is frantically building. It also thwarts a bizarre plan by the South Korean government to encourage individual travel to North Korea without encouragement from the North or guarantees for travellers' security. The North Korean regime asked Chinese travel agencies to "stop sending tourists to the North until a vaccine is developed. As its capacity to prevent the epidemics is poor, it was prudent for the North to close the border as an immediate response to cope with the spread of the disease.

There are reports which suggest that amid border lock down many North Koreans are starving to deaths. This is because all informal trade and smuggling of vital supplies abruptly came to an end. It is believed that many regions in the country have been suffering from a shortage of daily necessities since the regime banned official trade and smuggling, prohibited people from travelling between regions, and closed open-air markets. The most affected areas are believed to be border regions like Hyesan in Ryanggang Province and inland areas.

As a consequence, prices have risen steeply as there have been no imports of food and other household essentials like cooking oil, rice, wheat flour and sugar from China. Essential commodities like rice have become dearer by 20 per cent since the days when borders were closed. Adding to North Korea’s woes, China, North’s main life line, resumed repatriation of defectors to the North which it temporarily suspended after the corona virus outbreak. On its part, Beijing has managed to contain the worst of the outbreak and now wants no contact with the North. Markets have closed. In some rural areas where food rations have run out, farm households skip meals and many farmers have failed to turn up on collective farms because they are too weak to work. The regime is waging an aggressive anti-corruption campaign against the elite, reportedly at the initiative of leader Kim Jong-un's younger sister Yo-jong, to quell any dissent in an increasingly desperate situation.

However, despite sealing its borders and halting all trade with China, major cities in North Korea have been hit by the coronavirus epidemic. It is believed that the virus has spread widely in Pyongyang and the border town of Sinuiju, North Pyongan Province. People are dying either from starvation or infection, though North Korea claims it has not a single confirmed case of corona virus. Experts and observers have other opinions however.

Seeking help from South Korea

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un sought help from South Korea in combating corona virus. This fuelled speculation that the outbreak is worse than officially projected. Though North Korea claims that there is not a single case of infection and that some 7,000 people are in self-quarantine and under medical monitoring, this is just not the case as the virus has spread quickly as in other countries. Though North Korea closed its borders, the virus had already spread when North Korean workers returned from China en masse at the end of 2019. People returning from China were quarantined in hotels in Pyongdok, Dokchon, Sinuiju, Kaechon and Anju. Yet, North Korea is reluctant to acknowledge this fact; rather it focuses on its propaganda claiming that there is no casualty. Its main focus is on situation in South Korea.

According to Cho Han-bum of the Korean Institute for National Unification, it is possible that the regime is covering up the spread of corona virus for its own security, or that it is unable to make accurate diagnoses due to its poor medical system. It is doubtful if health authorities in North Korea have corona virus reagents for diagnosis or any technology for virus testing.

On the other hand, there are also reports that North Korea is alarmed by the rapid spread and ordered trading companies to import protective suits, diagnostic kits and face masks. It had problems buying quarantine equipment from China and then it tried in vain to buy it from international organisations, India and Brazil. North Korea also asked South Korean NGOs to provide quarantine equipment and protective gear. Even while it battles the menace at home, Kim Jong-un sent a letter of sympathy and a donation to Chinese President Xi Jinping over the spread of the disease in China. The letter purportedly mentioned that North Korea's Workers Party and people "worry about the outbreak of the corona virus in China as if it was happening in their own country". It was not revealed however how much money Kim donated to China. Interestingly, China’s People’s Daily reported Kim’s letter on its front page and thanked Kim for sympathy and support. In contrast, messages from other leaders like Russian President Vladimir Putin were lumped together on page 2 even though their donations are likely to have been more substantial.

Since North Korea halted trade with China amid the corona virus fears and its consulates stopped issuing visas as early as late January, it remains unclear how the country is managing its economy and trade as China is virtually the regime’s sole economic lifeline to the isolated country. Closing its border and cutting off trade with China suggest how desperate is North Korea to prevent the outbreak from spreading through the country, which lacks medical facilities and supplies to deal with any epidemic. It blocked all cargo traffic from the Chinese border town of Dandong to Sinuiju. Custom checkpoints in North Pyongyang were not officially closed but cargo trucks were not allowed to pass through. It also banned all Chinese tourists and made it mandatory for all foreigners arriving via China to be kept in quarantine for a month and undergo health checks. North Korea has a poor epidemic control system that could collapse if its quarantine seals are broken. The State media is stressing the need every day to block the spread of the new virus under any circumstances.

Among other measures, North Korean authorities announced closures of all schools until April 15, Kim Il Sung’s birthday and a national holiday. The ideas behind the school closure were North Koreans “fight off the epidemic” before this “sacred day” and celebrate as a nation. It was also cited social distancing as the reason for its order.

The school closure order impacted the livelihoods of many people. Some interpreted that they were forbidden from stepping foot over the Sino-North Korean border until school reopen in April. Smuggling and trade activities provide income for many people located in the border region and the school closure order adversely impacted their lives.

Biggest countermeasure

At a ground-breaking ceremony on March 13, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said the country lacks modern medical facilities and ordered construction of a large new Pyongyang General Hospital in the heart of the capital to be built by October 2020. Soon, soldiers and builders began construction to finish the project by the deadline set by Kim. Kim reportedly observed that the deadline of October 10 this year to coincide with the 75th founding anniversary of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) — just over 200 days away — must be strictly met, even to the detriment of other construction projects.

This is a gigantic project and a lot of resources and capital investments would go into the project. The project outline seems to be to build a long four-story building filling the narrow park between the Monument to the Party Founding and the Taedong River, with twin buildings of around 15 stories on the east end. The hospital is to be built in an area of around 60,000 m² including parking lot. Though Kim in his speech harped heavily on the difficulties the project is likely to face to meet the short construction deadline, he at the same time warned of consequences for poor construction quality in the 200-day project.

While ordering the construction of the large new hospital on modern standards, Kim ordered cadres of the relevant sectors to visit hospitals which are said to have the highest development standards in the world in order to gain knowledge in the project. For Kim, the execution of the project was a part of “the line on self-reliant development amid the heinous internal and external situation,” later clarified saying “the Pyongyang General Hospital will smash with laughter the hostile forces’ dirty sanctions and blockade.”

Even if Kim succeeds in completing the project by the deadline set by him and even though he has encouraged better domestic production of medical equipment, the country shall still need to import a large number of items that are infamously caught up in an international sanction regime that creates obstacles to their shipment into the country. It remains to be seen how Kim battles fighting with the Corona virus and how much the outside world gets to know of the measures taken by Kim as information filtering from the country would not always be credible.  

(Pic Courtesy-unsplash.com)

Professor Rajaram Panda, a leading scholar on Indo-Pacific affairs, is currently Lok Sabha Research Fellow, Parliament of India, and a Member of Governing Council, Indian Council of World Affairs, New Delhi.He is also governing Council member of www.cescube.com. E-mail: rajaram.panda@gmail.com

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