Vulnerable North Korea orders lockdown after 1st COVID-19 case

The omicron variant has reached North Korea, prompting leader Kim Jong-un to direct all cities and counties in the unvaccinated country to “thoroughly lockdown.”

The first locally transmitted case of COVID-19 was detected May 8 in Pyongyang, according to state media on Thursday. The Politburo of the country’s ruling Worker’s Party ordered factories and residential units to close themselves off from each other, with the aim of containing outbreaks as citizens continue working, reports The Wall Street Journal.

North Korea has kept its borders mostly closed since the outbreak of the pandemic in Jan. 2020, calling it a matter of “national survival.” The Communist country’s outdated medical infrastructure and widespread malnutrition make it especially vulnerable to COVID.

“This is really an existential threat for North Korea,” said Rodger Baker, a senior vice president at geopolitical consulting firm Stratfor, in Feb. 2020.

The population remains unvaccinated, with the regime rejecting an offer of 2 million vaccines by the U.N.-backed COVAX program.

The first COVID case in North Korea was reported in July 2020 when someone who ran away to South Korea in 2017 snuck back across the border, leading to the complete lockdown of a border city.

Since then, anyone with flu-like symptoms has been quarantined and border guards were ordered to shoot anyone who attempted to cross its borders on sight.

North Korea’s strict border controls have strangled trade with China, its largest trading partner, stressing an economy already burdened with international sanctions over its weapons programs.

Despite the risks, Kim has ordered state projects and agricultural development to go forward, likely to keep the economy from getting any worse. North Korea is now in its rice-planting season, so a prolonged lockdown could worsen food shortages later on in the year, reports WSJ.

North Korea watchers say the public health situation must be serious for Pyongyang to publicly acknowledge it.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said Thursday that Beijing stands ready to provide full support “as a comrade, neighbor and friend.”