Kim Jong-un Claims 'Shining Success' against Coronavirus

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un praised his country's shining success in tackling Covid-19, according to the state news agency KCNA.

Speaking at the Politburo meeting, Kim said that the country had "prevented the inroad of the malignant virus and maintained a stable situation."

North Korea closed its borders and separated thousands of residents six months ago when the virus spread across the globe.

It claims that there are no virus reports, but analysts say that is impossible.

Kim is said to have "analysed in detail the six-month-long national emergency anti-epidemic work" at a politburo meeting on Thursday. He said the success in handling the virus was "achieved by the far-sighted leadership of the Party Central Committee".

But he stressed the importance of maintaining "maximum alert without... relaxation on the anti-epidemic front", adding that the virus was still present in neighbouring countries.

"He repeatedly warned that hasty relief of anti-epidemic measures will result in unimaginable and irretrievable crisis," said the KCNA report on Friday.

Has coronavirus spread to North Korea? No-one even understands why. The nation has been closed since 30 January. Very few people have made it in or out of here.

In the border area, the International Federation of the Red Cross had volunteers working on virus prevention measures, and there were a number of unconfirmed reports of cases within the country.

But most accounts of life in the capital in recent weeks appear to show life carrying on as normal.

Whatever the reality of the situation, Pyongyang wants to appear confident that it has crushed Covid-19.

Domestically, there is a clear indication that the stringent steps taken by Kim Jong-un to hold the virus in place have succeeded.

The rest of the world may be in the grip of a pandemic, and Mr. Kim wants his people to know that he saved them from it.

Yet it came at an expense. The whole border flow has been closed off. This indicates that it was difficult to provide vital resources to the poor society.

Diplomatic sources have told me that there is a backlog of PPE and medical equipment, including vaccinations installed at the border that are unable to get through.

There have been several accounts of panic-saving of imported merchandise at department stores in Pyongyang. Shelves are stripped bare as the production is restricted.

It is also worth remembering that, between April and June of this year, only 12 defectors made it to South Korea-the the lowest amount on record.

The North Korean people may not be suffering from coronavirus, but they are now even more cut off from the outside world.

Masks compulsory in North Korea

In late January, North Korea moved quickly against the virus - sealing off its borders and later quarantining hundreds of foreigners in the capital, Pyongyang.

It also put tens of thousands of its own citizens into isolation and closed schools.

North Korea has now reopened schools, but has kept a ban on public gatherings and made it compulsory for people to wear masks in public places, said a Reuters report on 1 July quoting a World Health Organization official.

The WHO has reported that the world has already tested just 922 people for the infection, all of whom reportedly tested negative.

North Korea, which has a long frontier with China, has long stated that it has not recovered from a single case of the virus.

However, Oliver Hotham, managing editor of specialist news site NK News, told the BBC earlier this year that this was probably not true.

"It's very unlikely that it has seen no cases because it borders China and South Korea. [Especially with China], given the amount of cross border trade... I really don't see how it's possible they could have prevented it," he said.

"[But] they really did take precautions early [so] I think it's possible they've prevented a full-on outbreak."

Source: BBC