Coronavirus: North Korea COVID-19 Free?

A month ago I looked into the possibility that coronavirus had hit North Korea. The speculation was that the virus had hit North Korea via the trade that happens between North Korea and China along the Yalu River.

Al Jazeera has an article dated March 21st to look into the rumors coming out of North Korea. I'll call them rumors as a lot of the information appears to be coming from unknown sources in North Korea.

Nobody knows for sure if anyone in North Korea has already contracted coronavirus, but recent political moves seem to signal worry in Pyongyang.

Earlier this month, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un broke months of diplomatic silence by penning a personal letter to South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

. . . Robert Lauler, a former NGO worker and English editor at the Daily NK, an online publication that has contacts in North Korea, said its sources reported 82 people in quarantine and 23 dead from COVID-19 in the country.

. . . "Last week, we also ran a story about a military report that stated that around almost 200 soldiers had died from symptoms that appeared to be coronavirus . . . "



New York Post wrote on March 18th another sign that the virus has hit North Korea:

North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un is calling on his country to hastily build a “modern general hospital” to “better protect the precious health and safety of our people” amid growing suspicions the Hermit Kingdom isn’t being honest about the coronavirus outbreak.

The article later states that North Korea is looking to finish the hospital by October. It is possible that this is just coincidental. If the virus is in North Korea, by October the country will likely be over-whelmed with cases.

Daily NK wrote a bit more in-depth about the 200 solders that might have died from the virus (March 9th):

A Daily NK source inside North Korea’s military reported on Mar. 6 that the military’s medical corps had sent a report detailing the impact of COVID-19 on the country’s soldiers to military leaders. 

The report stated that 180 soldiers had died in January and February and that approximately 3,700 soldiers are currently under quarantine. According to the report, the soldiers who had died were predominantly stationed on or around the Sino-North Korean border in North Pyongan, Chagang, Ryanggang, and North Hamgyong provinces.

Based on this article, this implies that the virus has entered via China and not South Korea.

Via Reuters (March 21st), President Trump has reached out to North Korea:

Trump “expressed his intent to render cooperation in the anti-epidemic work, saying that he was impressed by the efforts made by the Chairman to defend his people from the serious threat of the epidemic,” KCNA reported in a statement carried by Kim’s sister, Kim Yo Jong. It did not say when the letter was received.

Of course, does that letter mean anything? Via Zerohedge there is the implied belief that the United States refuses to back off the sanctions against Iran to help that country deal with their outbreak.

Let's admit that North Korea can take similar tactics like China did in Wuhan. So they might be able to deal with this virus better than the West (though likely having a much higher CFR %). On the other hand, would that just create other health issues for a country that is already known for malnutrition.