North Korea still says it has no coronavirus cases. This is how it’s managing the story

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Controlling information – and avoiding any panic – is a central part of how the regime’s leader, Kim Jong-un, holds onto power.
NIKI J.P. ALSFORD


North Korea continues to insist that it is completely free of coronavirus. The World Health Organization’s representative to the country said that 709  people had been tested with no confirmed cases as of April 2.

Observers are naturally sceptical, particularly given the 10,000 cases and 200 deaths from COVID-19, the disease linked to the new coronavirus, in neighbouring South Korea.

North Korea has taken some of the most draconian measures since the virus was first reported in January. It was among the first countries to seal its borders in February. It automatically quarantined all foreign diplomats in Pyongyang for one month and controlled the movement of its population. Compared to North Korea’s response to SARS in 2003 and Ebola in 2014, it’s clear that the leadership in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) is now being much more assertive – and this may have helped.

However, officials in North Korea have begun to ask for humanitarian assistance. To benefit, North Korea must navigate a range of sanctions. Aid organisations have had to secure emergency exemptions from the UN to allow specific shipments of aid to arrive in recent weeks. However, getting the shipments in also proves difficult because of strict border controls.

It’s still unclear whether the closure of the North Korean border has also stopped the state-sanctioned smuggling across the country’s border with China that the government uses to bypass certain sanctions.

If the border is now closed to these smuggling routes, then this is an opportunity to understand the full brunt of the sanctions. But if the smuggling continues, then the chances of COVID-19 spreading into North Korea are greatly increased.

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