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In North Korea, the number of suspected cases of COVID-19 in a short period of time has exceeded 1.2 million, falling out of control. South Korean President Yoon Seok-yeol said he will spare no effort to provide quarantine support, including a new coronavirus vaccine, if North Korea responds. Reporter Kim Hwan-yong reports from Seoul.

Amid a surge in fever suspected of COVID-19 in North Korea, North Korea's state-run "Korean Central News Agency" said on the 16th, "The Labor Party's political bureau convened another emergency council on the 15th and conducted a project to discuss quarantine measures."

According to North Korea's National Emergency Quarantine Command, 392,920 new fever cases occurred nationwide from 6 p.m. on the 14th to 6 p.m. on the 15th, and eight people died.

As a result, the total number of fever cases in North Korea from the end of last month to 6 p.m. the previous day is about 1,213,550 and the cumulative death toll is 50.

Chairman of the State Affairs Commission Kim Jong-un, who presided over a meeting of the party's political bureau, issued a special order to stabilize the people's army, saying that COVID-19-related drugs are not being distributed on time.

Chairman of the states Affairs Commission Kim pointed out, "In order to quickly curb and manage the spread of infectious diseases, the party's political bureau issued an emergency order to urgently release national reserve drugs, and all pharmacies ordered to move to the 24-hour operating system, but it is not being executed immediately.

He also strongly criticized judicial and prosecution executives, including the head of the Central Prosecutors' Office, for failing to legally monitor and control negative phenomena such as hoarding and illegal distribution of drugs.

This is an observation that the rapid increase in the number of COVID-19 is indicating that drug hoarding and illegal distribution are taking place nationwide.

Chairman of the State Affairs Commission Kim said at the Politburo Council presided over on the 14th, "The spread of malicious infectious diseases can be said to be a great turmoil since the founding of the country."

Cho Chung-hee, a former North Korean defector, said, "People have bought COVID-19 drugs in the marketplace, but with the nationwide blockade, the government is at the forefront of securing them."

[Recording: Director Cho Chung-hee] "We can't give out medicines that drug producers and drug dealers have for free. So I force it, but that's what I'm talking to the prosecutor general. I have to tell them to pay for all the drugs they have and give them now, but that doesn't make sense, so they're releasing what they had with their military war reserves."

The South Korean government has expressed its willingness to actively support North Korea, believing that it has already become out of control of the new coronavirus.

President Yoon Seok-yeol said in his speech at the National Assembly on the 16th, "We have repeatedly expressed our intention to open humanitarian aid at any time without political and military considerations. We should spare the necessary support for North Koreans exposed to the coronavirus threat."

[Recording: President Yoon Seok-yeol] "If the North Korean authorities respond, we will spare no necessary support, including medicines, medical equipment, and health personnel, including the COVID-19 vaccine."

The South Korean government is also attempting to contact North Korea at work.

The Ministry of Unification said it tried to send a notice to North Korea at 11 a.m. through the inter-Korean joint liaison office, containing a proposal for working-level contact on COVID-19 quarantine cooperation, but North Korea has not expressed its intention to accept it.

The notice is in the name of Unification Minister Kwon Young-se, and the recipient is Kim Young-chul, the head of the North's Unification Front Department.

The notice said, "North Korea is willing to provide vaccines, medicines, masks, diagnostic tools, and South Korea's experience in quarantine, while proposing to hold working-level contacts between the two Koreas."

Former South Korean Vice Unification Minister Kim Hyung-suk said North Korea has received Tamiflu aid from South Korea during the swine flu crisis, and that it should be open to the health crisis, although the conflict between the U.S. and South Korea continues.

[Former Vice Minister Kim Hyung-suk] "If South Korea or the U.S. are hesitant to reach out first when there is no change in their position, they will face even more difficult situations in North Korea if they refuse such humanitarian aid and delay time due to political and military considerations."

Chairman Kim Jong-un said at a meeting of the party's political bureau on the 14th, "The current situation is not uncontrollable between regions, but within the containment area and the correspondingly, "Learn from the advanced and rich quarantine results and experiences of the Chinese party and people."

It is interpreted that he expressed his willingness to respond to COVID-19 on his own by relying on a Chinese-style containment policy rather than receiving external help.

North Korea is also said to have asked China to provide quarantine supplies as it fell into a national emergency due to the spread of COVID-19.

However, South Korean quarantine authorities and medical experts say that the current situation in North Korea is beyond the limits that North Korea can control, seeing as a surge in Omikron, which has strong transmission power among the new coronavirus.

Son Young-rae, head of the Social Strategy Division at the Central Disaster Management Headquarters, said in a press briefing on the 16th, "North Korea seems to be determining confirmed patients without diagnostic tests. Omicron has about half of confirmed patients as asymptomatic and 10% fever."

He said, "Managing confirmed patients based on symptoms does not prevent the spread of infection due to asymptomatic or early asymptomatic patients," adding, "We assume that infection control is not easy."

Professor of infectious medicine at Gachon University Gil Hospital said, "According to the usual fatality rate of Omicron, eight out of 400,000 fever deaths are unacceptable," adding, "There are no vaccinations in North Korea, and considering the poor medical standards, there are problems with the death toll system or the authorities are deliberately hiding it."

Professor Eom said that in the current situation in North Korea, where the number of infected people has already soared, what is needed immediately is a treatment, but vaccinations should be carried out as soon as possible for mid- to long-term measures.

[Recording: Professor Eom Seong-sik] "We need treatments that can be administered at mild stages such as paxlovid and lagebrio, so we need treatments that can reduce the incidence of critically ill patients in high-risk groups. I think it would be more advantageous in the mid to long term to get vaccinated quickly, especially in large cities in North Korea."

Some predict that Chairman Kim will face the biggest crisis since he took power if the spread of COVID-19 leads to a surge in deaths and economic collapse.

I'm Dr. Cho Han-beom of the Unification Research Institute, a national research institute under the Korean government.

[Recording: Dr. Cho Han-beom] "North Korea has officially recognized the 1994 march as its biggest crisis. However, Chairman Kim Jong-un admitted that it was a major crisis since the founding of the country, which is even worse. This issue is the security crisis of Kim Jong-un's regime. So, in some cases, if we have enough supplies to overcome this crisis, and the only thing we can give it to is Korea."

Chung Sung-sung, head of the North Korean research center at Sejong Institute, said, "If Kim tries to overcome the current quarantine crisis by relying only on China, it will take a long time to overcome the crisis."

I'm Kim Hwanyong from VOA News in Seoul.

출처 : VOA한국