Quotes of the Day:
"Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don't resist them - that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like."
- Lao Tzu
"To forget one's purpose is the commonest form of stupidity."
- Friedrich Nietzsche
"Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world."
-Archimedes
1. N. Korea reports 15 new deaths amid COVID-19 outbreak
2. Yoon, Biden to discuss N. Korea's provocations, economic security, int'l contribution
3. North Korean corona confirmed to participate in 'No. 1 event'... Group infection in Pyongyang after the military parade
4. S. Korea's new COVID-19 cases under 30,000 for 2nd day amid eased virus curbs
5. Omicron is sweeping through North Korea
6. Yoon hopes to boost alliance at summit with Biden
7. COVID outbreak increases North Korea's reliance on China
8. Accept COVID-19 aid offer
9. How bad could omicron get in North Korea?
10. North Korea's Great COVID-19 Crisis: How Bad Will It Get?
11. North Korea's COVID-19 Nightmare Is About to Begin
12. Was North Korea's military parade a Covid-19 superspreader event?
13. Blinken Emphasized Denuclearization Goal in Call With South Korea's Foreign Min - State Dept
14. G-7 blames North Korea arms push for health emergency
1. N. Korea reports 15 new deaths amid COVID-19 outbreak
This is perhaps how north Korea is going to keep itself in the news. We will be following these COVID outbreak statistics for the coming days until we achieve "north Korean COVID fatigue." The regime will exploit the suffering of the people due to OCVID to try to extract concessions from the US and the international community.
It may continue to conduct missile (and possibly even nuclear) tests, but it could be the regime is learning that those tests are not achieving Kim's desired effect to coerce/blackmail/extort concessions from the US. While we will offer and commit to providing humanitarian assistance (though it is unlikely Kim will accept it)we must continue to enforce sanctions because our failure to do so will result in Kim doubling down on his strategy.
(4th LD) N. Korea reports 15 new deaths amid COVID-19 outbreak | Yonhap News Agency
(ATTN: UPDATES with N. Korean leader's visit to funeral service of senior official in last para)
SEOUL, May 15 (Yonhap) -- North Korea on Sunday reported 15 additional deaths from an ongoing "epidemic" and 296,180 more people with fever symptoms nationwide, three days after it announced a COVID-19 outbreak.
The new cases, which occurred between Friday evening and 6 p.m. Saturday, raised the total number of deaths to 42 and that of those who have shown fever symptoms since late April to over 820,620, according to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). Among them, more than 496,030 have been cured and at least 324,550 are being treated, it added.
It cited data compiled by the "state emergency epidemic prevention headquarters."
The North's state-controlled media have used the expression "fevered persons," instead of coronavirus patients or confirmed cases, which observers here view as attributable to a lack of coronavirus testing kits and other equipment to confirm infection.
With "swift state emergency measures" taken to curb the spread of the virus, the KCNA said in its English-language report, many of the dead were "careless in taking drugs due to the lack of knowledge and understanding of stealth Omicron variant virus infection disease and its correct treatment method."
It added, "All provinces, cities and counties of the country have been totally locked down and working units, production units and residential units closed from each other since the morning of May 12 and strict and intensive examination of all the people is being conducted."
The KCNA also said the nation's senior officials have been donating their private reserve medicines in the fight against the epidemic.
Last Thursday, the North made public an outbreak of the stealth omicron variant on its soil after more than two years of claiming that it was free of the coronavirus.
Despite lockdowns, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visited the bier of Yang Hyong-sop, a nonagenarian official who died Friday, along with several senior officials, and offered his deep condolences, the KCNA said.
(END)
2.Yoon, Biden to discuss N. Korea's provocations, economic security, int'l contribution
They should also build on the May 2021 summit which laid out an unprecedented vision for the future of the alliance beyond the Korean peninsula: "The Alliance: Opening a New Chapter."
In May 2021 White House released a joint statement with Seoul along with a fact sheet describing a new way forward for the alliance beyond the traditional military partnership. The documents outline the alliance’s role in the Indo-Pacific and throughout the world in fields such as cyber, technology and innovation, global health, and the newly established U.S.-ROK Democracy and Governance Consultations. However, the documents had one major omission: They did not call for a free and unified Korea.
Our recommendation for a major sumit action is here:
It's time for a new U.S.-Korea alliance for a free, unified peninsula
Yoon, Biden to discuss N. Korea's provocations, economic security, int'l contribution | Yonhap News Agency
SEOUL, May 15 (Yonhap) -- South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and his U.S. counterpart, Joe Biden, will discuss North Korean provocations, economic security and contributions to pending international issues when they meet next weekend for their first summit, a senior official said Sunday.
Biden is set to arrive in Seoul on Friday for the summit with the new South Korean president the following day before visiting Japan on Sunday on his first Asia trip since his inauguration last year.
The two leaders will discuss how to deal with North Korea's provocations. They will also discuss bilateral cooperation in supply chain issues, emerging technologies and other topics related to economic security, the senior presidential official said.
Also on the agenda is South Korea's contributions to pressing international issues and how to coordinate them.
Yoon's top priority in the summit is to build trust with Biden and further strengthen the South Korea-U.S. alliance and combined defense posture, according to the official.
The U.S. currently maintains some 28,500 troops in South Korea to deter North Korean aggression, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War that ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.
The summit and a joint press conference will both be held at the new presidential office in Yongsan in central Seoul.
On speculations that Yoon may make a reciprocal visit to the U.S. next month, the official said there were apparently no plans for the president to visit the U.S. in June.
odissy@yna.co.kr
(END)
3. North Korean corona confirmed to participate in 'No. 1 event'... Group infection in Pyongyang after the military parade
This is Google translation of the current article in DailyNK. It will probably be published tomorrow in English but the Google translation is sufficient to get the point across. This may be the report that other news sources are using to speculate that the recent paared event was a super spreader event.
North Korean corona confirmed to participate in 'No. 1 event'... Group infection in Pyongyang after the military parade
2022.05.13 4:35 PM
The Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the North Korean Workers' Party, reported on the 2nd, "Comrade Kim Jong-un took a commemorative photo with university students and working young people in Pyongyang City, who contributed to the successful guarantee of the parade to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Korean People's Revolutionary Army on May 1." . / Photo = Rodong Sinmun News 1
It is reported that North Korea is taking this matter seriously as it is known that there was an infected person at the first event attended by Chairman Kim Jong-un while North Korea acknowledged the fact that there was an internal corona19 infection.
A Pyongyang source told Daily NK on the 13th, “It was reported that university students infected with the corona virus (virus) participated in the first event.
According to the North Korean media, on the 1st, Chairman Kim took a commemorative photo with university students and working young people in Pyongyang, who contributed to the successful guarantee of the military parade commemorating the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Korean People's Revolutionary Army (Anti-Japanese guerrillas).
Among the university students who participated in the event, there was a person infected with Corona 19, and above all, there is a possibility that he had close contact with Chairman Kim.
North Korea judges that it is a problem that cannot be hidden when there is a quarantine hole in the 1st eventThe source explained that North Korea views this as a serious problem in that the failure to filter out the infected at the first event attended by Chairman Kim is a matter that cannot be overlooked directly related to the personal safety of the supreme leader.
It is interpreted to mean that the relevant facts were disclosed in order to accurately investigate the responsibility, identify the cause, and prepare measures to prevent recurrence.
Moreover, fears that the already bubbly public sentiment could be shaken even more if a proper explanation is not given while locking the country seems to have influenced the decision to disclose.
In the past, residents complained of difficulties in making a living and complained of considerable dissatisfaction with the authorities' measures to block the area. Even as the North Korean authorities who have experienced this, it is inevitably burdensome to implement a strong quarantine policy nationwide without any particular reason or explanation.
In response, North Korea seems to have decided that acknowledging and formalizing the occurrence of COVID-19 patients at the party level can effectively implement the quarantine policy while preventing public dissension.
The fact that Chairman Kim wore a mask in public for the first time since the corona crisis is also interpreted as an intention to convey the seriousness of the situation to the residents.
The first group infection after the military parade occurred at Pyongyang University of Commerce in Jangcheol-gu.
On the 12th, North Korea's state-run KCNA reported, "On May 8, we deliberated the results of rigorous genetic sequence analysis on samples collected from a group of people with fevers in the capital, and recently, Omicron, which is rapidly spreading around the world. We concluded that it was consistent with the mutated virus (virus) 'BA.2'.”
The news agency did not specify which group had the fever, but a source said that the first case of group infection occurred at 'Jangcheol-gu Pyongyang University of Commerce (Pyongyang University of Commerce)' after the military parade.
The source said, "The first confirmed cases internally are considered to be about 10 people from Pyongyang University of Commerce," the source said.
In particular, the source said, “Among the university students in Pyongyang who took the photo of the first event, those who live in a province relatively close to the capital have been on vacation for 5 to 7 days, and the regions are South Pyongan Province, North Pyongan Province, South Hwanghae Province, North Hwanghae Province, and Nampo City.” said Authorities are confident that the virus may have spread across the country as people who came in contact with the infected traveled to various provinces, the source said.
In fact, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said on the 13th, “From the end of April, fever of unknown cause spread explosively across the country, resulting in about 350,000 fever cases in a short period of time, of which 162,200 were cured. done,” he reported. So far, more than 187,000 people have been quarantined and treated, and six people have died, including one confirmed case of Omicron.
On the 13th, the Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the Workers' Party of Korea, said, "All provinces, cities, and counties across the country are blocked, quarantined by business unit, production unit, and living unit, and intensive inspection of all residents is carried out more strictly so that fever patients and abnormal symptoms are reduced. “Emergency measures are being taken to find all those who are still there, isolate them thoroughly, and take active treatment measures.” / Photo = Rodong Sinmun News 1
“Confirmed patients and their families go to temporary quarantine facilities”… Pyongyang University of Commerce students surveyed
It is reported that North Korea is currently isolating the infected and their families and conducting a full investigation of students at Pyongyang University of Commerce.
“The confirmed person was transferred to a temporary national quarantine facility in Pyongyang,” the source said.
According to the policy of not having corona-related facilities in the "capital of the revolution," North Korea has not installed a quarantine facility in Pyongyang so far, but it seems that it has newly established an isolation facility in Pyongyang due to this incident. The location is more likely to be in the outskirts of Pyongyang's central district.
A source said, "The group with confirmed cases has stopped a medical vehicle and is undergoing a comprehensive inspection for all personnel. said.
He continued, "All buildings and indoor objects have been disinfected with liquid spray and smoke," he added.
The infected person was found to be the nephew of a trade worker who had been to China for business.
Meanwhile, it is known that the student infected with Corona 19 was transmitted from a relative with a history of visiting China.
The source said, "The nephew of a trading company leader went to Pyongyang and participated in the parade floor event.
The infected person is believed to have participated in the first event after being transmitted from a relative who had traveled to China for work.
In this regard, the city of Dandong in Liaoning Province, a hub for trade between North Korea and China, was closed on the 25th of last month due to the spread of Corona 19, and North Korea suspended the operation of North Korea-China freight trains four days later on the 29th.
The source said, "The trade worker did not violate the party's policy to conduct trade only to one place in Sinuiju, and he (student) did not go abroad, so he did not receive any criticism or take legal action against this incident.
4. S. Korea's new COVID-19 cases under 30,000 for 2nd day amid eased virus curbs
Just to compare with the north's statistics. This information will also be used as an excuse by the regime to not allow any Koreans from the South to come to the north to assist in providing humanitarian assistance due to the pandemic.
(2nd LD) S. Korea's new COVID-19 cases under 30,000 for 2nd day amid eased virus curbs | Yonhap News Agency
(ATTN: ADDS latest figures in last 4 paras)
SEOUL, May 15 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's new coronavirus cases stayed below 30,000 for the second straight day Sunday in the latest sign that the country's virus cases are on a downward trend amid eased virus curbs.
The country added 25,434 new virus infections, including 26 cases from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 17,782,061, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).
The country added 48 COVID-19 deaths, bringing the total to 23,709, with the fatality rate at 0.13 percent. The number of critically ill patients fell to 338 from 341 a day earlier, the KDCA said.
Last month, health authorities eased social distancing guidelines as new infections showed signs of a slowdown after peaking at 621,168 on March 17.
The country also eased the outdoor mask mandate on May 2, except for large gatherings of 50 or more, as it is moving toward a return to normalcy. The indoor mask mandate remains in effect.
On Friday, South Korea announced a plan to ease requirements to enter the country in a move that could boost convenience for inbound travelers.
Starting May 23, the government will recognize negative rapid antigen test results for travelers boarding flights to South Korea, on top of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test results currently being accepted.
Still, rapid antigen tests must be carried out by medical professionals 24 hours before arrival in South Korea.
Beginning June 1, international arrivals will be required to undergo a PCR test within three days of their entry into South Korea. Currently, the mandatory test is required on the day of arrival.
Of the locally transmitted cases, Seoul accounted for 4,025, with its surrounding Gyeonggi Province taking up 5,799 cases. There were also 1,150 additional patients from Incheon, west of the capital city.
As of midnight Saturday, a total of 33.2 million people had received their first booster shots, representing 64.7 percent of the population, and 3.47 million people, or 6.8 percent, had gotten their second booster shots, the KDCA added.
Through 9 p.m. Sunday, South Korea had reported 12,917 new cases, down by 12,028 from the same time Saturday.
According to the KDCA, the number of cases for the midnight-9 p.m. period has dropped below 20,000 for the first time since May 1.
Cases are counted through midnight and announced the following morning. For a full day, South Korea last had fewer than 20,000 cases on Feb. 1.
South Korea has averaged 33,969 cases per day over the past week, and the figure to be announced Monday morning is likely to be well below that average.
kyongae.choi@yna.co.kr
(END)
5. Omicron is sweeping through North Korea
Let me reprise this 2006 Atlantic article from Robert Kaplan (which I have done many times inthe past). I really want to call attention to the work of Robert Collins my good friend and mentor on all things related to north Korean instability and regime collapse.
When North Korea Falls
Excerpt here from Kaplan's article to apply in the context of north Korea's COVID outbreak.
There is probably no one left at USFK that knows that the indicators and warnings for north Korean instability and collapse the intelligence community is using today were developed by and derived from the work of Robert Collins. The one point that my friend Robert Kaplan got wrong in this excerpt was that we emphasized the ROK government and military would be in the lead for any operations in north Korea. When we wrote the first plans for instability and collapse in the 1990s even when the Koreans did not want to participate in the planning our boss (CINCUNC/CFC/USFK) told us to always write for combined operations. There will be no unilateral US operations in north Korea. And today with the OPCON transition in the near future this is even more important. But in defense of Kaplan, like most authors and journalists he was examining the US military in Korea and PACOM in the early 2000's for a couple of his books so his writing was very US centric.
What should concentrate the minds of American strategists is not Kim’s missiles per se but rather what his decision to launch them says about the stability of his regime. Middle- and upper-middle-level U.S. officers based in South Korea and Japan are planning for a meltdown of North Korea that, within days or even hours of its occurrence, could present the world—meaning, really, the American military—with the greatest stabilization operation since the end of World War II. “It could be the mother of all humanitarian relief operations,” Army Special Forces Colonel David Maxwell told me. On one day, a semi-starving population of 23 million people would be Kim Jong Il’s responsibility; on the next, it would be the U.S. military’s, which would have to work out an arrangement with the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (among others) about how to manage the crisis.
Fortunately, the demise of North Korea is more likely to be drawn out. Robert Collins, a retired Army master sergeant and now a civilian area expert for the American military in South Korea, outlined for me seven phases of collapse in the North:
Phase One: resource depletion;
Phase Two: the failure to maintain infrastructure around the country because of resource depletion;
Phase Three: the rise of independent fiefs informally controlled by local party apparatchiks or warlords, along with widespread corruption to circumvent a failing central government;
Phase Four: the attempted suppression of these fiefs by the KFR once it feels that they have become powerful enough;
Phase Five: active resistance against the central government;
Phase Six: the fracture of the regime; and
Phase Seven: the formation of new national leadership.
North Korea probably reached Phase Four in the mid-1990s, but was saved by subsidies from China and South Korea, as well as by famine aid from the United States. It has now gone back to Phase Three.
Kim Jong Il learned a powerful lesson by watching the fall of the Ceausescu Family Regime, in Romania: Take utter and complete control of the military. And so he has. The KFR now rules through the army. There have been only individual defections of North Korean soldiers to the South. Even small, unit-level defections—which would indicate that soldiers are talking to one another and are no longer afraid of exposure by comrades—have not yet occurred. One defector from the North’s special-operations forces told me that soldiers in the ranks are afraid to discuss politics with one another.
The North Korean People’s Army is simply too big to be kept happy and well fed, so the regime concentrates on keeping the elite units comfortable. The defector I spoke to—a scout swimmer—told me that while the special-operations forces live well, the extreme poverty of conventional soldiers would make their loyalty to Kim Jong Il in a difficult war questionable. Would they fight to defend the KFR if there were an unforeseen rebellion? The Romanian example suggests that it depends on the circumstances: when workers revolted in 1987 in Brasov, the Romanian military crushed them; when ethnic Hungarians did so two years later in Timisoara, the military deserted the regime.
Sunday
May 15, 2022
Omicron is sweeping through North Korea
In this photo released by the North's state-run Korea Central Television, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un wears a mask as he presides over a meeting Saturday at the headquarters of the ruling Workers' Party Central Committee in Pyongyang. [YONHAP]
Almost 300,000 more people have come down with symptoms of Covid-19 in North Korea as the country entered the fourth day of a draconian nationwide lockdown aimed at stopping its first officially acknowledged Covid-19 outbreak, state-run media reported on Sunday.
According to the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), approximately 296,180 people nationwide came down with fever symptoms between Friday evening and Saturday at 6 p.m., while 15 more had died.
The total number of people who have shown fever symptoms between the end of April and Saturday is around 820,620, of which 496,030 have recovered, according to the news agency. Some 324,550 are receiving treatment, while a total of 42 people have died.
Since the outbreak was officially admitted last Thursday, the North has recorded an unusually high rate in the increase of daily infections, with 18,000 people reporting Covid-19 symptoms on Thursday and 174,400 on Friday.
State media has blamed deaths on flawed administration of medication due to “a lack of understanding” of the contagion and appropriate treatment methods.
“Since the outbreak of the current infectious disease crisis, a large proportion of deaths resulted from careless drug use arising from people's lack of understanding on how to treat stealth Omicron infections,” KCNA reported.
The agency reported that the country is taking “swift state emergency measures.
“All provinces, cities and counties of the country have been totally locked down and working units, production units and residential units have been sealed off from each other since the morning of May 12 and strict and intensive examination of all the people is being conducted,” KCNA reported on Sunday.
The reports of a full-blown Covid-19 outbreak is a drastic change from the North’s repeated claims since January 2020 that the country had detected zero cases within its borders.
Pyongyang seems to have prevented a major Covid-19 outbreak through extreme measures to seal itself off, including shutting its land borders with China, over which the bulk of the country’s trade is conducted.
The current outbreak signals a failure by the regime to prevent the virus, and particularly the highly contagious Omicron variant, from seeping in, as well as missteps that have allowed it to spread.
External observers believe that mass rallies and parades marking key regime and military anniversaries in April and May could have contributed to the spread, particularly in Pyongyang, where the largest celebrations were held.
One of the key holidays last month was April 15, observed in the country as the Day of the Sun, or the birth of leader Kim Jong-un’s grandfather, founder of the regime Kim Il Sung.
Another major holiday was April 25, which celebrates the founding of the North’s armed forces.
As April 15 and 25 this year fell on the 110th and 90th anniversaries of the commemorated events, the Workers’ Party Politburo adopted a resolution in January decreeing that the corresponding festivities should be especially grand. The North has traditionally feted every fifth and 10th political anniversary with larger events.
While it is difficult to trace the exact route of viral transmission in the North, the first acknowledged cases appear to coincide with the massive military parade held on April 25 to cap off a month of political holidays.
The parade, which took place in Kim Il Sung Square in downtown Pyongyang, involved mass contact between large numbers of people. The festivities involved tens of thousands of marching soldiers, students and work units, not to mention residents expected to be in attendance.
According to state media reports, leader Kim was present for 20 group photographs with youth from all over the country. Approximately 1,200 people were gathered for each commemorative photo, with none wearing a mask.
Experts say that these events are likely to have triggered the spread of Covid-19.
“Intoxicated by the success of the [April 25] military parade, the North Korean regime became careless,” said Lim Eum-cheol, a professor at Kyungnam University's Institute for Far Eastern Studies. “The large-scale photo sessions appear to have become Covid-19 super-spreading events.”
Lim added that while suspected cases of Covid-19 arose in the North shortly after a military parade last September marking the 73rd anniversary of the regime’s establishment, the experience of passing that event without a serious outbreak appear to have lulled the North Korean regime into a sense of false security.
While some observers believe North Korea is allowing its domestic media to report on the current outbreak in order to appeal for vaccine aid from the international community, others believe that the reports are aimed at boosting internal solidarity and preempting domestic unrest at the strict lockdown measures.
The outbreak has not stopped Kim from ordering officials to push forward with major state-led construction and agricultural projects.
Pyongyang also launched three ballistic missiles on Thursday, suggesting not even Covid-19 would stop ongoing missile tests.
Seoul’s Unification Ministry said in a press release Sunday that South Korea “is preparing to make a formal offer of practical assistance to help with the North’s anti-disease measures,” although it acknowledged that contact had not yet been made.
President Yoon Suk-yeol also said Friday that his government was prepared to supply the North with vaccine aid and medicines necessary to deal with the budding Covid-19 crisis.
“We are aware that cases tied to Covid-19 have exploded in North Korea,” an official at the presidential office told the JoongAng Ilbo on condition of anonymity. “We will negotiate specific aid with the North,” he added.
Such aid is likely to include vaccines, anti-fever medication, and test kits, according to the official.
BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]
6. Yoon hopes to boost alliance at summit with Biden
I think it is a mutual objective and that will be the result. But I again caution the Yoon administration to be prepared for the propaganda from the north and political opposition that will try to make the case it is too close to the US and President Yoon will be accused of being a puppet of the US which has long been standard north Korean propaganda. He has to explain to the Korean people that a strong alliance is in the best interests of the ROK. Fortunately a majority of Koreans understand and agree with that.
Sunday
May 15, 2022
Yoon hopes to boost alliance at summit with Biden
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, left, and U.S. President Joe Biden, right, will hold their first summit on May 21. [YONHAP]
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and U.S. President Joe Biden will discuss North Korean provocations, economic security, and how to ratchet up the bilateral relationship.
“The leaders of South Korea and the U.S. will talk about strategies for responding to North Korean provocations and ways to manage related situations,” said a presidential office spokesperson on Sunday.
“It is expected that the two countries will coordinate cooperation on issues such as supply chains and emerging technologies with a focus on economic security,” the spokesperson continued. “We will also coordinate on how we can contribute to international issues, and see if there is anything to be arranged between the two countries.”
“It is most important for the two presidents to establish a relationship of trust and to lay the groundwork for the South Korea-U.S. alliance to return to the original track,” the spokesperson added. Conservatives in South Korea blame the Moon Jae-in administration for a deterioration in the alliance.
In particular, the spokesperson said that Yoon intends to elevate the South Korea-U.S. alliance to a higher level than before. At the same time, sharing a vision for a comprehensive strategic alliance and rebuilding a combined defense posture are key goals for the summit.
“We will expand and deepen the work that South Korea and the United States can do together in accordance with the changes in the international situation these days,” the spokesperson said.
In answer to a reporter’s question about whether vaccine aid to North Korea could be on the agenda, the spokesperson replied, “We have established a policy to support vaccines and medicine, and we are waiting to see if North Korea will accept them.”
The South Korea-U.S. summit and press conferences related to it will be held at the presidential office in Yongsan.
“President Biden is the first official foreign guest since the beginning of the 'Yongsan era,'” the spokesperson said. “We are making various preparations related to protocol and schedules.”
“We hope that this summit will be more fruitful than any previous meetings,” the spokesperson said.
Regarding observations that Yoon could be invited to visit the U.S. next month, the spokesperson said that “There is no current schedule for a presidential visit to the U.S. in June.”
Biden’s visit to Korea comes ahead of a U.S.-Japan summit and the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or Quad — a U.S.-led cooperative forum with India, Japan and Australia — meeting to be held in Japan. The fact that Biden is visiting Korea before these meetings “shows the importance of the South Korea-U.S. alliance,” said the spokesperson.
Biden is scheduled to meet with Yoon on May 21, and depart for Japan on May 22.
BY LIM JEONG-WON [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]
7. COVID outbreak increases North Korea's reliance on China
Can and will China help? Will Kim accept its help?
COVID outbreak increases North Korea's reliance on China
A teacher takes the body temperature of a schoolgirl to help curb the spread of the coronavirus before entering Kim Song Ju Primary School in Central District in Pyongyang, North Korea, in this Oct. 13, 2021 file photo. Before officially acknowledging domestic COVID-19 cases, Thursday, North Korea spent 2 1/2 years rejecting outside offers of vaccines and steadfastly claiming that its superior socialist system was protecting its 26 million people from "a malicious virus" that had killed millions around the world. AP-Yonhap
By Kwon Mee-yoo
As North Korea's COVID-19 situation has gone out of control after confirming its first case of the infectious disease last week, the reclusive state is leaning on its ally, China, to overcome the crisis. South Korea is expected to propose working-level talks with Pyongyang this week.
According to North Korea's emergency epidemic prevention headquarters, some 296,000 fever cases had been reported Saturday, with 15 deaths. The North's COVID-19 cases skyrocketed from 18,000 reported Thursday and 174,000 on Friday.
Despite Pyongyang announcing the number of daily COVID-19 infections, experts question the accuracy of its statistics as the totalitarian country might have cut down the numbers to appease the public sentiment.
Moreover, Pyongyang counts "fever" cases instead of COVID-19 cases, which suggests that the country does not have the testing capacity to handle the situation.
Kim Jong-un stated Saturday that North Korea is faced with "great turmoil" due to the spread of the virus and pledged for a "maximum emergency" antivirus system, by learning from "successful" COVID-19 control measures of other countries, including China.
China responded that it is "ready to work with the DPRK, support each other and strengthen cooperation against the pandemic," referring to the North by its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian was quoted as saying, "China and the DPRK are friendly neighbors sharing borders. We pay great attention to the pandemic in the DPRK. We believe that under the leadership of the Workers' Party of Korea and the government of the DPRK, the people of the country can surely defeat the pandemic. China is ready to strengthen anti-pandemic cooperation with the DPRK, and provide our support and assistance in light of the DPRK's need."
An employee of the Kyonghung Foodstuff General Store disinfects the showroom countertops in Pyongyang, North Korea, in this Nov. 10, 2021 file photo. AP-Yonhap
However, Cheong Seong-chang, director of the Center for North Korean Studies at the Sejong Institute in South Korea, said it will take a long time for North Korea to overcome the pandemic if it relies only on China.
"There were discussions on COVID-19 vaccines between North Korean and China last year, but it is known that the negotiations fell through as North Korea wanted 50 million doses of vaccine, while China said it would provide 2 million to 5 million doses first and send additional vaccines later," Cheong said.
"It would be difficult for China alone to provide 2 to 3 shots of vaccines for all North Koreans and there are some doubts over the efficacy of Chinese vaccines in and outside the country. So if North Korea accepts other vaccines as well, it could overcome the pandemic more easily and rapidly."
Lee Jae-gap, an infectious disease doctor at Hallym University Hospital, quoted forecasts on North Korea's COVID-19 situation, predicting over 1 million cases and up to 100,000 deaths.
During a radio show Friday, Lee said North Korea's pandemic situation might be worse than expected as the country does not have a healthcare system for the infectious disease and the population is not vaccinated at all.
Lee said South Korea would provide humanitarian support for fighting COVID-19 in North Korea, including oxygen, therapeutics and protective gear for medical staff.
"If medical teams get infected, the whole healthcare system might break down. So it is important to provide highly protective face masks to medical staff," Lee said.
South Korea's new Foreign Minister Park Jin discussed humanitarian aid to North Korea with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a video talk Friday. The U.S. said it would support Pfizer vaccines to North Korea through the global vaccine program COVAX.
South Korea plans to officially offer North Korea assistance in fighting the coronavirus early this week. According to government officials, the Ministry of Unification will send a message suggesting a meeting on support for COVID-19 measures through the inter-Korean communication line.
Hong Min of the Korea Institute for National Unification expected that it is not likely for Pyongyang to accept humanitarian aid from Seoul and Washington as it has been taking a strong stance against the allied countries' opposition to the North's nuclear program.
"Still, Seoul has to lead the situation whether Pyongyang asks for support or not by communicating with the U.N. and WHO," Hong said.
This photo, released by Korean Central Television, Sunday, shows empty streets in North Korea amid the communist state's lockdown measures to contain the spread of COVID-19. Yonhap
International organizations are also ready to lend a helping hand to North Korea, but they have yet to receive any official requests from Pyongyang.
"We're monitoring with concern the reports of COVID-19 outbreak in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. We've yet to receive formal communications on the outbreak, but we are staying in contact with the representatives of the DPRK on this," Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for the U.N. secretary-general, said during a daily briefing, Friday.
"The U.N. remains engaged and we stand ready along with our humanitarian partners to assist the people in need in the DPRK on COVID-19 and other issues, as people's vulnerability has likely increased since the pandemic outbreak and the border closures in 2020."
8. Accept COVID-19 aid offer
Juche will not save north Korea.
Accept COVID-19 aid offer
North cannot tackle health crisis by going it alone
North Korea appears to be facing a more serious COVID-19 situation than previously thought. On Sunday, it reported 15 additional deaths from the coronavirus and 296,180 more people with fever symptoms detected between Friday evening and 6 p.m. Saturday. The tally came three days after the North announced its first official COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began over two years ago.
According to the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the new cases increased the total number of deaths to 42. The number of patients showing fever symptoms since late April also rose to 820,620. Among them, 496,030 have recovered and 324,550 are being treated, the agency said.
Medical experts in South Korea are questioning the accuracy of the numbers, since the North suffers a lack of testing kits and other equipment to confirm infection. For the same reason, the North has used the expression "fevered persons" instead of coronavirus patients or confirmed cases. This may imply that many more North Koreans have come down with COVID-19. The North could have also tried to deflate the numbers in a bid to downplay the seriousness of the public health crisis for political reasons.
Some critics argue that North Korean authorities have acknowledged the COVID-19 outbreak belatedly, as the pandemic is turning into an endemic in many countries. Now the question is whether the North can bring the spread of the virus under control without any assistance or cooperation from the international community. Pyongyang claims that it can do that by going it alone. But many experts point out that the reclusive country has no capacity for overcoming the crisis on its own.
That's probably why North Korean leader Kim Jong-un described the COVID-19 situation as the "great turmoil since the country's founding." Kim was even quoted as saying that a "vulnerable point in the epidemic prevention system" had been exposed. More worrisome is that COVID-19 may spread more rapidly from now on, considering a serious lack of treatment facilities and equipment as well as medical supplies. The coronavirus crisis, if not checked promptly and appropriately, could pose a grave threat to the Kim regime.
Against that backdrop, South Korea's new President Yoon Suk-yeol has offered to send COVID-19 vaccines and other medical supplies to North Korea. The offer reflects Yoon's willingness to help the North with humanitarian aid, despite his campaign pledge to take a hardline stance on the North's nuclear weapons program. He softened his tone in his May 10 inaugural address, saying that the door to dialogue with Pyongyang will remain open. He added that the South is prepared to work with the international community to present an "audacious plan" to rebuild the North Korean economy if it takes steps toward denuclearization.
The Kim regime should accept Yoon's assistance offer in order to check the spread of the virus and ensure North Koreans' health. North Korea is one of the world's two countries which have not yet vaccinated their people against COVID-19. It has even refused to accept vaccines from the COVAX Facility, a global vaccine procurement mechanism.
We urge the North to focus on protecting its people from the pandemic, instead of continuing its development of nuclear weapons and ICBMs. It is regrettable that the North launched short-range ballistic missiles Thursday, the same day it confirmed the outbreak of the Omicron variant. The Kim regime should respond positively to Yoon's assistance proposal and resume dialogue with the South and the United States.
9. How bad could omicron get in North Korea?
Some useful analysis that includes collapse scenarios and discusses the potential for rebellion.
How bad could omicron get in North Korea?
Published : May 15, 2022 - 18:33 Updated : May 15, 2022 - 21:48
In this photo released by the Korean Central News Agency, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is seen wearing a face mask at a politburo meeting of the ruling Workers` Party held Saturday. (Yonhap)
After holding down the fort for over two years, North Korea finally let COVID-19 slip through the cracks in its tightly sealed doors.
Just days since the first cases were announced, North Korea’s total number of related deaths rose to 42, according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency on Sunday. The count of people with fever accumulated since late April reached 820,620, which is about 3 percent of its 25 million population.
How bad could omicron get in North Korea? Here’s what experts have told The Korea Herald.
For North Korea, omicron won’t be ‘mild’
Omicron’s reputation as the “milder COVID-19” wouldn’t necessarily be true for North Korea, according to infectious disease professor Dr. Kim Woo-joo of Korea University.
Kim said if reports were true that North Korea hasn’t been previously exposed to COVID-19, the country was now where the rest of the world was in spring 2020 -- no vaccines, no treatments and no immunity in the population.
“One of the main reasons countries experienced a lower rate of fatal omicron cases is because of the presence a fairly recent immunity among the population from prior infection or vaccination,” he said.
“North Korea reportedly has no circulation of previous strains, which means its entire population is susceptible. It has limited health care services, a high proportion of vulnerable people and zero access to key resources like vaccines and antivirals. All of these factors set the stage for potentially disastrous outcomes.”
International Vaccine Institute’s director-general Dr. Jerome Kim warned that omicron, which spreads at a rate of speed between that of chicken pox and measles, could hit North Korea’s immunologically naive populations harder.
Among older South Koreans aged 60 and above, omicron had a mortality rate of 5 percent.
“In North Korea, everyone -- the elderly, adults, and children -- would be at greater risk of hospitalizations and deaths due to a high prevalence of malnutrition, based on reports of food shortages from earlier this year,” said the International Vaccine Institute chief.
This would be on top of the vulnerabilities that were already present before the pandemic hit. According to the National Cancer Center-affiliated Peace Medical Center’s recent survey of North Korean defectors, 41 percent said they weren’t able to see the doctor when they were sick while in North Korea. More than 50 percent said they had never received a vaccine.
Ill-equipped to continue zero-COVID
While a lock down remains the only strategy available to North Korea, science so far suggests the approach is at best shortsighted.
“After infecting a significant part of the population, the virus may be less of a threat for a period of time. Then it will likely flare up again,” said Kim of the International Vaccine Institute.
Immunity from natural infection with omicron is not that durable, particularly against different variants, he explained. Whatever immunity from the current BA.2 outbreak likely would not stop BA.2.12.1, BA.5 or a new variant from posing threats in the future.
“The virus may also end up being more slowly transmitted out of sight, in the sense that North Korea doesn’t have good testing,” he added.
“The Chinese system worked because they have the resources to do mass testing and the economic strength to ensure lockdowns. China also has vaccines,” he said. “Without the resources and capabilities to test, treat and vaccinate, what are the likely outcomes (of lockdowns)? I think we know what will happen.”
Dr. Paik Soon-young of Catholic University of Korea agreed that in the absence of medical interventions, North Korea would stand slim chances of weathering through the omicron outbreak.
“The pursuit of zero COVID-19, its sustainability aside, did not work for low-vaccinated Hong Kong and non-mRNA-vaccinated China once omicron caught up with them,” he said.
“Given the North’s conditions, an omicron outbreak there may explode into a magnitude that dashes any dreams of sticking to its old ways of border shutdowns and lockdowns.”
North Korea’s ability to pull off China-style mass lockdowns is doubtful, given their chronic struggle with starvation made worse by the pandemic, he said. After Shanghai’s extended lockdown, residents there had reported they had run out of food.
“The goal for North Korea at this stage should be minimizing deaths.”
The best way out
Dr. Cha Ji-ho, a global health professor at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, laid down three ways the COVID-19 outbreak could go down in North Korea.
“North’s ability to execute a strict, population-wide social distancing could prove successful in quelling the outbreak for the time being. But that would come at the cost of worsening secondary health and food crises,” said Cha, who has been following the developments in North Korea throughout the pandemic with the World Health Organization and the South Korean Ministry of Unification.
“If North Korea decides to accept outside help, and essential medical supplies like vaccines, medications and respirators get there in time and in enough quantities, cases could subside in a way that minimizes damage on lives and livelihoods.”
Possibly the worst scenario would be lockdowns failing to do the trick while at the same time international aid hasn’t been secured, he said. “In which case, large-scale deaths would be unavoidable.”
Then again, North Korea has “its own brand of resilience,” he said.
Sparse population and restricted travel within borders make physical distancing convenient. Disciplining the public about health precautions would not be a problem due to lack of competing sources of information. North Korea has 3.7 doctors per 1,000 people, according to the WHO data from 2017.
“These unique circumstances could allow the country stall the spread and buy time until life-saving medical resources become available, which would be the best way out of the crisis,” Cha said.
Kim of the International Vaccine Institute said politics and accountability aside, there are not only humanitarian but biological concerns for the world to act in face of a North Korean outbreak.
“There are strategic concerns that I am not qualified to assess, but from a public health perspective, if the situation is this dire, we must act and offer help on humanitarian grounds.”
There were also risks new, threatening variants could pop up from the region, he said.
“We know what happens when the virus is rapidly spreading through a naive population. Look at the rise of beta, omicron in South Africa, delta in India, gamma in Brazil.”
Regime-toppling challenge?
COVID-19 is “no doubt a key agenda” in North Korean politics, according to Park Won-gon, a professor of North Korean studies at Ewha Womans University.
The display of early-hour politburo meetings and the sheer volume of COVID-19 reports in Rodong Simun, the Workers’ Party organ, attested to the extent to which the public health emergency was taken seriously.
“North Korea has responded to COVID-19 with what I would say is almost a neurosis. That’s because it was viewed as a potential challenge to regime survival,” he said.
“Most North Korea collapse scenarios rule out the possibility of a popular rebellion amounting to a threat to the regime. But a pandemic combined with prolonged economic hardships has been discussed as a possible scenario under which such unrest could be instigated.”
COVID-19 probably reached North Korea long before this week, but the belated admission indicated that outbreak has grown to a size that could no longer be hidden, he said.
What’s curious is that the omicron outbreak, bad enough to declare a “severe national emergency,” still didn’t stop North Korea from firing missile tests toward the sea. Park said the latest missile tests were “likely planned beforehand, separately from the COVID-19 situation.”
Park said he didn’t think North Korea was seeking international help, at least not so far.
“North Korean authorities identified the strain of virus circulating there as ‘stealth omicron.’ They’re aware the existing vaccines won’t work as well against what they have,” he said. “Whether North Korea continues to engage in missile-firing from now on could signal a message as to if help is wanted.”
North Korea-trained physician Dr. Choi Jung-hun, who worked at the North’s state epidemic control division before defecting to the South in 2012, said he sees “nothing changing with North Korea, even with an omicron ‘explosion.’”
He said omicron would be “just one of many public health hiccups” that people of North Korea routinely put up with. “I don’t think outsiders truly understand the level of tolerance North Koreans have for pain.”
Choi said the latest announcements would likely only serve as a justification to keep up with the measures taken by North Korea to control the pandemic, both internally and internationally.
Pyongyang only wants help on its terms
South Korea’s newly inaugurated president Yoon Suk-yeol has offered to send medical supplies, including vaccines, to North Korea. Millions of COVID-19 shots in South Korea are at risk of being discarded, with most of the population having been doubly, if not triply, vaccinated.
These excess vaccines, arguably one of the most precious commodities at the moment, could go to its neighbor except it is unclear if North Korea would be willing to accept them. Over the ongoing pandemic North Korea has repeatedly refused vaccines from COVAX, an international vaccine-sharing scheme.
Cha of Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology said there would be little incentives for North Korea to accept assistance unless it came in quantities that were “certain to turn the situation around.”
“If that isn’t the case then North Korea wouldn’t want to risk the possibility of external political influence.”
People Power Party Rep. Tae Young-ho, once North Korea’s deputy ambassador to the UK, pointed out in a Facebook post Friday that a support to North Korea would have to come as a full package covering not only vaccines but the logistics and cold chain technology necessary to deliver them.
Leif-Eric Easley, international studies professor of Ewha Womans University, said the Kim regime “likely wanted enough of the best vaccines to inoculate the whole population.”
“It may have been holding out to be offered shipments of Pfizer or Moderna to cover three shots for everyone rather than agreeing to shipments of different vaccines in stages,” he said.
“Pyongyang was probably waiting for global cases to abate before resuming international contact, but now its fortress approach has been broken,” he said. “Under the current circumstances, North Korean authorities should recognize there is no longer any time to waste.”
Easley said North Korea is “determined to receive assistance on its own terms, without showing desperation and weakness.” Donor countries and international organizations “may need to find creative arrangements that provide some face for the Kim regime.”
He went on, “But ultimately it is the North Korean government that must ask for, and cooperate to receive, international assistance that is urgently needed for its people.”
10. North Korea's Great COVID-19 Crisis: How Bad Will It Get?
Bad. Very bad.
North Korea's Great COVID-19 Crisis: How Bad Will It Get?
COVID-19 Pandemic Finally Hits North Korea – Following the outbreak of COVID-19, trade between China and North Korea collapsed as the Kim family essentially isolated the DPRK from the outside world. It threw North Korea’s struggling economy into chaos, leading to one of its worst crises since its founding. The government was forced to shut down its small tourism industry, which generated somewhere between $30-$44 million in 2014, and take additional measures to prevent the virus from entering the country – including completely shutting its borders.
The country’s leaders repeatedly claimed, however, that not a single case of COVID-19 had been observed and that the situation was under control. In June last year, Pyongyang told the World Health Organization that after testing more than 30,000 people for COVID-19, not a single case had been found.
The claims have long been met with suspicion, but the recent news that North Korea is dealing with a rapid spread of the virus suggests that there could have been some element of truth to the claims.
Kim Jong Un Declares “Greatest Turmoil”
On Saturday, secretive North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un said that COVID-19 had plunged the country into its “greatest turmoil” since its founding.
KCNA, the official North Korean news agency, said that Kim met with the ruling communist Workers’ Party of Korea to discuss how to control the spread of the disease. The news follows reports of at least 21 deaths caused by the virus on Friday.
On Thursday, North Korea announced its first COVID-19 death, and at least 174,400 infections have also been reported nationwide.
During the politburo meeting on Saturday, Kim told government officials that the situation is the “greatest turmoil since the country’s founding” and said that the government must “study well the epidemic prevention policies of China.” He also encouraged a “no COVID” policy.
Under such a policy, North Korea will likely pursue zero-COVID cases nationwide through strict, authoritarian measures. In China, the zero-COVID approach has seen citizens barricaded in their homes and blocked from leaving for weeks.
With a struggling medical system and no infrastructure to distribute vaccines or therapeutics, a zero-COVID policy is likely North Korea’s only option for preventing or reducing widespread death and severe illness.
While North Korea claims to offer a comprehensive, free healthcare system, studies have repeatedly shown that citizens of the country are left without access to basic care and treatment.
A study published in June of 2020 offered an insight into North Korea’s healthcare system and the overall health of its citizens. The study asked North Korean refugees settling in South Korea about their experiences with illness and healthcare in North Korea, with little more than half of the respondents revealing that they received treatment for their most recent illness episode.
Two years behind the rest of the world, North Korea now faces a health crisis on top of a food shortage and a struggling economy.
Jack Buckby is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society.
11. North Korea's COVID-19 Nightmare Is About to Begin
Excerpts:
The North Korean regime is responsible for the appalling condition of the repressed people of the country. Prioritizing military spending, including the prohibited nuclear and missile programs, along with disastrous socialist economic policies, have decimated the North Korea’s ability to provide for its citizens.
The national lockdown will further exacerbate the country’s economic problems and food shortages. Kim’s repeated rejection of COVID-19 assistance may have doomed his populace to needless suffering and death.
North Korea's COVID-19 Nightmare Is About to Begin
Just how bad could things get? After two years of denial, North Korea admitted its first COVID-19 case on May 12 and imposed a nationwide lockdown in response. The regime’s public admission and draconian response suggests the situation was too severe to remain concealed. Within a day, Pyongyang revealed the epidemic had been raging for weeks and already affected hundreds of thousands of people.
North Korea is one of only two nations in the world to have not inoculated any of its citizens. The country’s rudimentary heath care system, emaciated population, and lack of medical supplies make it dangerously vulnerable to a dire pandemic crisis.
The international community will likely reiterate offers of assistance, but the regime rejected all previous proposals. Any distribution of international aid would be hampered the departure in March 2021 of all nongovernment organizations from North Korea.
At a May 12 Politburo meeting, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un discussed the “most serious state emergency incident” arising from an unspecified number of residents of Pyongyang being detected with COVID-19 omicron variant BA.2.
Kim directed the “top emergency epidemic prevention” be implemented. Measures include a nationwide lockdown of all cities and counties to isolate “each working unit, production unit and living unit from each other.” Kim was seen on North Korean media wearing a mask, possibly for the first time.
A day later, North Korea revealed an unidentified fever had “explosively spread nationwide” since late April, affecting 350,000 people, of whom 162,000 had recovered. On May 12 alone, 18,000 new cases were identified nationwide. There have been six deaths, one of which was identified as the COVID-19 omicron variant, and at least 187,000 people remain in isolation. Given the low level of testing in North Korea, the extent of the outbreak is likely far higher.
North Korea first declared a national emergency quarantine system in January 2020 and rapidly implemented quarantine measures far more extensive than those imposed during the 2003 SARS, 2014 Ebola, and 2015 MERS outbreaks. The regime closed its borders, suspended all travel into and out of the country, recalled officials stationed in China, and imposed a quarantine of up to three months on all inbound cargo.
Foreign trade plummeted, adding to economic woes brought on by the repressive socialist economy, international sanctions, and natural disasters impacting agricultural production. Even before the outbreak of COVID-19, Kim in December 2019 warned North Koreans to expect dire economic conditions and called on the public to “tighten their belts” after several years of promising an improving economy.
Although the regime had previously claimed there had not been a single case of COVID-19 until this month, there were reports in early 2020 that major cities in North Korea had been affected by the epidemic and more than 100 soldiers stationed near the Chinese border had died.
In July 2020, Kim similarly convened an emergency meeting of the Politburo due to fears that the “vicious virus” had entered the country from a North Korean defector who returned to North Korea illegally after reportedly contracting the disease in South Korea.
At that time, Kim declared a state of emergency and ordered a lockdown of the city Kaesong near the demilitarized zone, blocked off other cities, restricted travel into Pyongyang as well as between provinces, and imposed quarantines on anyone who had visited Kaesong. The defector’s COVID-19 test results were inconclusive.
North Korea has repeatedly rejected offers by the United States and the international community of COVID-19 vaccines as well as humanitarian, food, and medical assistance. There are no U.N. or U.S. sanctions on food, medicine, or humanitarian assistance. All U.N. resolutions and U.S. laws have language highlighting that any punitive measures do not cover those items.
The U.N. sanctions committee emphasized that U.N. sanctions “are not intended to bear a negative impact on the people” of North Korea. Some sanctions, however, prohibit certain high-tech equipment that could potentially be of use to the nuclear and missile programs. The U.N. has approved exemptions so diagnostic and medical equipment can be transported into North Korea, but the shipments were hampered by the regime’s strict quarantine restrictions.
In 2020, North Korean cyber hackers targeted at least six pharmaceutical companies in the U.S., the U.K., and South Korea that were working on COVID-19 treatments, including Johnson & Johnson, Novavax, AstraZeneca, Genexine, Shin Poong, and Celltrion. It was unclear whether North Korea was attempting to create its own vaccine or to sell obtained vaccine information to a foreign pharmaceutical company.
In 2021, a member of the South Korean National Assembly asserted that North Korea had targeted Pfizer to gain COVID-19 vaccine information.
It is unknown if the current state of emergency will lead Pyongyang to call for international support. The United States, in conjunction with international partners, should repeat their offers of medical and humanitarian assistance. Washington should urge the U.N. sanctions committee to expeditiously process requests for sanctions exemptions to ensure humanitarian assistance is not inadvertently blocked.
The U.S. and other nations should be willing to provide immediate aid to ameliorate medical or natural disasters that impact the populace while concurrently refraining from large-scale assistance that benefits the regime’s prioritization of the military over the needs of its citizens. Large-scale provision of food should be contingent on strict monitoring requirements.
The North Korean regime is responsible for the appalling condition of the repressed people of the country. Prioritizing military spending, including the prohibited nuclear and missile programs, along with disastrous socialist economic policies, have decimated the North Korea’s ability to provide for its citizens.
The national lockdown will further exacerbate the country’s economic problems and food shortages. Kim’s repeated rejection of COVID-19 assistance may have doomed his populace to needless suffering and death.
Bruce Klingner, a senior research fellow for Northeast Asia at The Heritage Foundation’s Asian Studies Center, spent 20 years in the intelligence community working at the CIA and Defense Intelligence Agency.
12. Was North Korea's military parade a Covid-19 superspreader event?
Logically it would appear so. But why weren't the other major events held over the past two years from parades to Party Congresses>
Was North Korea's military parade a Covid-19 superspreader event?
By Hermes Auto The Straits Times2 min
North Korea staged a massive military parade in Pyongyang on April 25 to celebrate the founding anniversary of the army. PHOTO: AFP
SEOUL (AFP) - It was supposed to be a triumphant celebration of North Korea's martial prowess, but a huge military parade to celebrate the army's founding could inadvertently have spread Covid-19 nationwide, experts say.
North Korea on Friday (May 13) confirmed its first ever coronavirus death, a day after the reclusive regime admitted to Omicron cases, saying tens of thousands of people were isolating after a fever "explosively spread nationwide from late April".
Footage of the event on state television showed thousands of people - unmasked and not socially distanced - packed into Pyongyang's Kim Il Sung square to watch ranks of soldiers goose-step past, and applaud as huge missiles were driven by.
The current Covid-19 outbreak is "closely linked to the April 25 parade", Hong Min, a researcher at the Seoul-based Korea Institute for National Unification told AFP.
"More than 20,000 people were preparing for the parade for two months prior to the event and stayed on in the capital for photo ops with Kim Jong Un," he said.
Kim's regime only appears to have "realised the gravity" of the situation belatedly and carried out Covid-19 testing after parade participants returned to their districts.
"Holding a military parade attended by a large crowd, when Omicron was raging in neighbouring China, shows Pyongyang was overconfident in their capabilities to fight and prevent the virus," said Cheong Seong-chang of the Sejong Institute.
Not their first parade
North Korea was one of the first countries to close its borders in January 2020 after the virus first emerged in neighbouring China.
Its policy of strict isolation initially appeared to keep Covid-19 at bay, and the country reported no cases for two years - although some experts question this claim.
Pyongyang even staged a night-time military parade in September 2021 with no reported consequences, although photographs of that event show participants wearing masks.
But over time, it seems North Korea may have relaxed its guard domestically, with state media reporting on anti-epidemic work more sporadically, analysts said.
At the time of the 2021 parade, the movement of people and goods to and from China "was largely restricted", Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies told AFP.
But earlier this year, North Korea briefly eased its near-total lockdown of cross border trade with China - likely the root cause of the current Omicron outbreak, he said.
"The virus may have entered North Korea via three different routes: railroads, shipping and smuggling," he said.
"The point is it came from China."
13. Blinken Emphasized Denuclearization Goal in Call With South Korea's Foreign Min - State Dept
But we may be dealing with instability and collapse then trying to simultaneously prevent loose nukes while there is compeitiotn andclfict among nKPA units trying to survive as they compete for resources after the party loses control. This is the uncertainty and complexity of regime instability and collapse.
Blinken Emphasized Denuclearization Goal in Call With South Korea's Foreign Min - State Dept
By U.S. News Staff U.S. News & World Report1 min
FILE PHOTO: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, meets with Thailand's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minster Don Pramudwinai (not pictured) at the State Department in Washington, U.S. May 12, 2022. Jacquelyn Martin/Pool via REUTERSReuters
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken held a call with South Korea's new foreign minister, Park Jin, in which he emphasized the shared goal of both countries for the complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, the State Department said on Friday.
Blinken and Foreign Minister Park also condemned the recent ballistic missile launches by North Korea during their call on Thursday, State Department Spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement.
(Reporting by Chris Gallagher, Editing by Franklin Paul)
Copyright 2022 Thomson Reuters.
14. G-7 blames North Korea arms push for health emergency
The G7 gets it right. The blame lies squarely on Kim's shoulders because he has deliberately priority nuclear and missile development over the welfare of the Korean people in the north.
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G-7 blames North Korea arms push for health emergency
By Hermes Auto The Straits Times2 min
In a photo released on March 4, 2020, volunteers carry out temperature screening in Pyongyang. PHOTO: REUTERS
In a joint statement on Saturday (May 14) following a meeting in northern Germany, the G-7 ministers expressed their grave concern about the situation in North Korea, which they said is the result of the choice "to prioritise its unlawful WMD and ballistic missile programs over the welfare of its own people".
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un earlier on Saturday called a spreading fever outbreak "the big upheaval since the nation's founding," and state media reported more than 170,000 new cases with 21 deaths.
He has ordered a lockdown of major cities since the country said this week it had identified a Covid-19 case within its borders.
Until Thursday, North Korea had denied it had any Covid-19 cases, a claim questioned by experts in the US, Japan and elsewhere. It has also refused vaccines from other countries.
The G-7 foreign ministers urged the government "to facilitate access for international humanitarian organisations for the delivery of urgently required humanitarian goods such as food and medicines and for independent assessment of humanitarian needs as soon as possible".
The ministers said they "strongly condemn the continued testing of ballistic missiles" by North Korea, and reiterated their demand that the country "abandon its nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programmes, and any other weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programmes in a complete, verifiable and irreversible manner."
V/R
David Maxwell
Senior Fellow
Foundation for Defense of Democracies
Phone: 202-573-8647
Twitter: @davidmaxwell161
FDD is a Washington-based nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.
