Is this a form of propaganda? North Korea did not report anyone on Friday August 5 “suffering from fever”, for the seventh consecutive day, and affirmed that all the people who suffered from Covid-19 in the country are now cured.
North Korea, one of the first countries in the world to close its borders in January 2020 after the virus emerged in neighboring China, has long boasted of its ability to guard against the virus. Pyongyang announced its first coronavirus case on May 12, and leader Kim Jong Un has taken the fight against the outbreak personally in hand. North Korea has officially recorded nearly 4.8 million infections since late April, with just 74 deaths, an official case fatality rate of 0.002%, according to the news agency.
At the end of May, Pyongyang said it was starting to see “progress” in controlling the epidemic, but experts, including the WHO, have repeatedly questioned this claim. “It is hard to believe a country if it claims that the number of confirmed patients has suddenly dropped to zero,” Ahn Chan-il, a specialist in North Korean studies, told AFP. “Like his military weapons and nuclear programs, it seems fair to say that Covid is also being used to highlight Kim Jong Un’s leadership and reinforce feelings of loyalty. [à son égal]whatever the truth”.
