North Korea has no confirmed cases of the coronavirus but we know from foreign diplomats that all is not well in the Hermit Kingdom.
When the pandemic began, North Korea locked down its borders with China and appeared to be successfully battling the disease. But that has changed. While the North Korean government claimed they had battled to virus successfully because of their superior health care system, the truth is that there is very little that passes for modern medical facilities outside of Pyongyang. North Korea is now under the most severe lockdown in the world and their economy — already teetering because of incompetence and U.S.-led sanctions — is close to collapse.
Despite its claims to the contrary, North Korea’s restrictions and economic data suggest that “it is having trouble with containing the virus and it had already confirmed coronavirus cases,” according to Park Won-gon, a professor of international relations at Handong Global University in South Korea.
“It is unreasonable to say that there is no coronavirus case in North Korea,” said Park. “Considering there was a period of about a month during which China had not clearly revealed information about the coronavirus, even though it confirmed cases in Wuhan in late 2019, more than one coronavirus case must have entered into North Korea, but they might not know.” Park added that the North was actively engaging in trade with China during that time, making the spread of COVID-19 across the border likely.
How bad is it really? Kim has been forced to admit to party supporters that the country was in the “worst-ever situation” and that all of his plans to raise the standard of living for the people depend on his supporters — not him.
Lockdowns are common in Communist dictatorships. Just look at Larry Hogan’s state of Maryland.
Give Hogan a wig and he could be Kim’s body double.