North Korea's Corona disaster: Kim Jong-un is probably breaking with tradition - wild home remedy tips are circulating

Created: 05/20/2022, 05:13

By: Christiane Kuehl

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and his wife Ri Sol Ju (both left) at a reception in Beijing in 2018 with Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan.

Kim rejected corona aid offers from China.

© AFP PHOTO/KCNA VIA KNS

North Korea has always rejected international corona aid - even from China.

But now an omicron tsunami is rolling through the country.

Is Pyongyang accepting vaccines and other supplies from Beijing after all?

Pyongyang/Beijing/Munich – No vaccinations, a lack of medicines and malnutrition among large parts of the population: isolated North Korea is extremely poorly prepared for the corona wave that is just rolling on.

Despite this, the government of ruler Kim Jong-un has so far insisted that it is well equipped to fight the disease, which is also officially known as "fever".

Kim has repeatedly rejected offers of help from abroad since the pandemic began two years ago.

This also applies to offers from China, the only country in the world that can call North Korea at least halfway an ally.

In 2021, for example, Pyongyang rejected China's offer of three million doses of Sinovac's local Covid-19 vaccine.

China should rather give the vaccine to "needier countries", it was said at the time.

AstraZeneca's vaccine, which North Korea could have gotten through the WHO's Covax initiative, was also unwelcome.

Until last week, the socialist government insisted that it had not had a single case of corona in its country.

The socialist Kim dynasty aligns itself with a self-sufficiency ideology called "Juche".

So far, every Kim – grandfather Kim Il-song, father Kim Jong-il and now son Kim Jong-un – has rejected economic reforms and opening up based on the Chinese model, much to Beijing's chagrin.

China in contact with North Korea over aid shipments

But now there are increasing signs that Kim is now talking about aid deliveries, at least with China.

Because the highly contagious Omikron variant is now breaking through unabated.

The number of infections is approaching the two million mark;

on Thursday, the isolated country reported a good 262,000 new infections with the “fever”.

More than 740,000 people are already in quarantine.

Three jets operated by North Korean airline Air Koryo landed in the northeast Chinese city of Shenyang on Monday, the South China Morning Post reported Wednesday, citing an unnamed informed source. The planes carrying medical supplies, including Covid-19 test kits, were still on Fly back to Pyongyang on Monday.

Kim previously praised China's response to the pandemic and urged its officials to learn from it.

China operates a strict zero-Covid policy.

Dozens of cities are currently in full or partial lockdown there, with the economic metropolis of Shanghai leading the way.

According to the Chinese authorities, talks between China and North Korea are underway, the paper writes.

One of the sticking points is opening the border between North Korea and China, which has been completely closed since the beginning of the pandemic.

Extensive aid deliveries would force the opening of the only border crossing.

North Korea reportedly even issued a shoot-to-fire order for illegal border crossings from China.

The mostly river-bound border with China makes up most of the isolated country's northern border - it also shares a short border with Russia.

The only formal border crossing is in the Chinese city of Dandong, where an old railway bridge crosses the border river Yalu. 

North Korea: Health system weak, hardly any medicines

Meanwhile, China is acting in its own interest with its offers of help.

There, the outbreak in the neighboring country is viewed with concern.

The port city of Dalian, about 300 kilometers from the common border, ordered regular corona tests for all 7.5 million inhabitants on Tuesday in view of the increasing number of infections in North Korea.

Because it is very unlikely that North Korea can contain Covid-19 alone.

The healthcare system in the isolated country ranked 193rd out of 195 in a 2021 ranking by Johns Hopkins University in the United States.

The population is also completely unvaccinated.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), North Korea, along with Eritrea, is the only country in the world that has not yet started a corona vaccination campaign.

According to Lina Yoon from Human Rights Watch (HRW), the complete sealing off of the borders to China to ward off the pandemic also ensured that "there are hardly any medicines left".

The state therefore advises citizens to treat Covid-19 with home remedies such as salt water for gargling.

In addition, citizens were advised to drink willow leaf tea three times a day.

Incidentally, the corresponding video from state television is very popular in Chinese cities, which are plagued by recurring lockdowns, and has been widely shared on social media.

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North Korea: Nuclear test apparently planned despite the corona wave

Meanwhile, despite the omicron wave, Kim appears to be planning a nuclear test.

According to a South Korean member of parliament, the preparations for this have already been completed.

"They are just looking for the right time," Ha Tae Keung told reporters on Thursday.

He relied on information from the South Korean secret service.

The US government had previously warned of a North Korean nuclear weapons test during US President Joe Biden's first trip to Asia.

Biden is expected in South Korea on Friday and will fly on to Japan on Sunday.

According to US intelligence agencies, a nuclear or missile test at this time is a "real possibility," Biden's National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said on Wednesday.

However, the US armed forces are prepared to make “short-term and long-term adjustments” to the trip.

The United States has been warning for weeks that North Korea could soon conduct a nuclear weapons test for the first time since 2017.

Pyongyang recently threatened a nuclear attack in the event of a South Korean attack.