North Korea has claimed that there have been no new COVID-19 cases in the country since August 2022, according to a national report submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Council.
In the report, submitted on October 9 as part of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), North Korea asserted that it implemented swift and preemptive measures to elevate its emergency quarantine system to the highest level as soon as the pandemic began.
The UPR, a process conducted by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, reviews the human rights conditions and the implementation of recommendations for each of the 193 UN member states every four years and six months. Ahead of its upcoming UPR in November, North Korea submitted the report, which includes an assessment of the health rights of its citizens, a recurring concern in the international community.
The report stated that the “malignant disease” entered North Korea in May 2022, leading to the closure of all land, sea, and air routes, and the implementation of effective home and remote medical systems to identify and isolate “fever carriers” for treatment.
North Korea claimed that, in order to provide necessary medications, state-level measures were taken, and all pharmacies operated 24-hour services. The report also boasted that these measures brought results within three months, with 4.7 million fever carriers fully recovering and a “fatality rate of 0.0016%.”
“Not a single malignant virus carrier has occurred in the country since August 2022,” it argued.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, North Korea had refrained from disclosing confirmed COVID-19 cases to the international community, instead releasing figures based on “fever patients.” The report’s figure of 4.7 million matches the number of fever cases announced by North Korea in August 2022.
The country’s reported fatality rate has drawn international skepticism. At the height of the pandemic in August 2022, South Korea, with its advanced medical system and high vaccination rate, reported a COVID-19 mortality rate of 0.12%, making North Korea’s reported rate 75 times lower by comparison.
Critics, including international media such as the Guardian and BBC, have raised doubts about North Korea’s claims, pointing out that the country lacks adequate intensive care facilities and did not receive COVID-19 treatments or vaccines. Many experts view North Korea’s death statistics as implausible, given the reported state of its healthcare system, which is considered one of the worst in the world.
Ahn Kyung-soo, Director of the Korea Unification Medical Research Center, stated in an interview with Radio Free Asia (RFA) on October 9 that there are likely still COVID-19 cases in North Korea. He emphasized that the issue lies in the lack of proper testing or diagnosis to confirm infections, leading the regime to declare that there are no cases.
“Here, if people show symptoms of COVID-19, they get tested and receive a diagnosis,” he explained. “However, North Korea’s system is very limited in this regard. As a result, many North Korean citizens who contract COVID-19 treat it like a common cold, staying home to recover by taking over-the-counter cold medicines and sweating it out on their own.”
BY YOUNGNAM KIM [kim.youngnam@koreadaily.com]
