North Korea officially reported an infection with the corona virus for the first time on Thursday. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un announced a lockdown. Until now, authorities claimed that the hermetically sealed country had been kept safe from the pandemic.
The state news agency KCNAO, which announced the contamination, speaks of a “serious national emergency”. According to the news agency, it concerns the highly contagious omikron subvariant BA.2.
Not credible that North Korea remained corona-free
Hardly anyone believes that no one in North Korea has ever contracted corona in the past two years. For example, a year ago, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un fired several senior officials who had not properly implemented government policy against corona.
These employees had caused “a major crisis”, the leader said, who did not go into details. North Korea shares a nearly 1,500-kilometer border with China. The number of infections has risen sharply in recent weeks in the Chinese border city of Dandong.
South Korea offers aid
South Korea’s presidential office wants to provide humanitarian aid to North Korea after corona outbreak has been confirmed, South Korea’s reported news†