North Korea's Self-Praise on COVID-19 Measures: "Lockdown Is the Most Scientific and Successful"

North Korean State Affairs Commission Chairman Kim Jong-un held a Politburo consultative meeting on the 21st and assessed that the COVID-19 spread situation is being managed stably.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Sumi] North Korea praised its COVID-19 prevention policy as excellent and engaged in self-praise.

According to Yonhap News on the 22nd, the Workers' Party organ newspaper Rodong Sinmun published an article titled "Deeply engrave the scientific and just nature of our Party's prevention policy and steadily implement it in today's prevention battle," highlighting North Korean State Affairs Commission Chairman Kim Jong-un's crisis management capabilities.

The media stated, "Following the longest record in world prevention history with not a single infected person, we have been able to stably suppress and manage the epidemic transmission situation within a short period even amid unexpected incidents," and "This clearly demonstrates that the emergency prevention policy adopted by our Party is a hundred times justified."

They claimed that no COVID-19 patients appeared for 2 years and 3 months, but the stealth Omicron variant was first introduced in April this year, and recently the spread situation has also shown signs of stabilization.

The media also self-assessed North Korea's prevention as the most scientific and realistic method. It emphasized, "At a recent important Party meeting, regional lockdowns and unit-level closures were implemented, and scientific and intensive testing and treatment battles were urgently organized and carried out," adding, "This was a brilliant plan to block and eliminate the virus in the shortest time possible under the country's realistic conditions."

Furthermore, it claimed that North Korea is conducting successful prevention through strong social distancing. The media argued, "The reason the virus spread is not easily curbed worldwide is due to weak national lockdowns to block transmission spaces," and "No matter how strong the transmissibility is, if transmission spaces between regions and people are blocked, the spread can be prevented."

Earlier, Chairman Kim also evaluated that North Korea's COVID-19 situation is being managed stably.

According to the Korean Central News Agency on the 21st, Kim held a Party Political Bureau meeting that day and assessed, "With the nationwide people's prevention struggle underway, the nationwide transmission situation is gradually being suppressed, the number of recovered patients is increasing daily, and the number of deaths is significantly decreasing, maintaining stability in overall regions." He also stated that measures would be devised to revitalize the overall economy alongside prevention efforts.

Meanwhile, according to the North Korean State Emergency Prevention Command, as of the 21st, the cumulative number of fever patients is approximately 2,646,730, and the number of deaths is 67. North Korea claims that the number of new fever patients surged to a peak with 18,000 on the 12th, 174,440 on the 13th, 296,180 on the 14th, and about 392,920 on the 15th, and since the 16th, it has maintained the 200,000 range for five consecutive days.