Although North Korea is pushing to introduce a vaccine from abroad, the National Security Strategy Institute said that it is hesitant to introduce it because it does not believe in a vaccine made in China.
Researchers at the Institute for Security Strategy and Development met with reporters today (9th) and said that North Korea was reluctant to introduce a vaccine made in China due to distrust of the vaccine made in China.
The researcher said that North Korea positively evaluates the Russian vaccine, but it appears to be demanding free aid.
Accordingly, North Korea has allowed North Koreans residing abroad, such as foreign missions and traders, from the end of March to receive Chinese and Russian vaccines, but has not started introducing Chinese and Russian vaccines into North Korea, the researcher said.
The researcher also said that North Korea was planning to introduce the AstraZeneca vaccine through COVAX, but refused to accept it due to concerns about the side effects of the AstraZeneca vaccine and is exploring the possibility of replacing it with another vaccine.
North Korea is also included in the recipient of the 500 million doses of Pfizer vaccine that the US plans to donate to low-income countries, but there has been no progress on its introduction so far, and as a result, it is observed that North Korea does not have a vaccine currently secured, the researcher said.