Covid-19: drug shortage in North Korea, Kim Jong-un on the front line

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in a mask visits a pharmacy in Pyongyang, in an undated photo released by North Korea's Central News Agency (KCNA) May 15, 2022. via REUTERS - KCNA

Text by: RFI Follow

2 mins

More than 1.2 million cases of "fever" and 50 deaths for a little over million inhabitants, this is the report announced by the North Korean regime on Monday.

Figures obviously very approximate and certainly underestimated for lack of screening capacity, but which partly reflect the seriousness of the situation in North Korea.

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With our correspondent in Seoul,

The fact that North Korea lacks medical resources is hardly a surprise.

But when it is the North Korean leader himself who affirms it, it becomes all the more significant.

This Sunday, Kim Jong-un decreed the mobilization of the army to face the shortage of drugs.

Because according to state media, pharmacies are not equipped to offer drugs to patients.

They would currently be more than half a million to suffer from " 

", including nearly 400,000 more in the last 24 hours.

Kim Jong-un also pointed out the shortcomings of certain state institutions, and decreed the mobilization of people's army personnel to deal with the shortage.

A way of showing his population that he is busy on the front lines of the pandemic, which he described as " 

 ".

According to the South Korean agency Yonhap,

for help in the fight against the pandemic.

It is unclear whether the request is for doses of vaccines, tests or drugs.

But what is certain is that Pyongyang has not officially responded to the proposal for the delivery of vaccines renewed on Monday by the South Korean president.

Yoon Suk-yeol, who is due to welcome Joe Biden to Seoul on Friday, said he is ready to offer medicine, vaccines and even medical personnel to his neighbor, who seems to prefer the help of his main economic partner for the moment. Chinese.

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• Coronavirus

• North Korea

• Health and medicine

• China

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