North Korea’s Kim slams officials over pandemic response, deploys army

North Korea’s Kim Jong Un slammed “irresponsible” officials for the country’s pandemic response and directed the army to assist in the distribution of medicine, state media reported on Monday, as Seoul offered Covid-19 assistance.

More than a million people have fallen ill with what Pyongyang refers to as “fever,” according to state media, despite leader Kim ordering nationwide lockdowns in an attempt to slow disease spread among the unvaccinated population.

In a sign of how serious the situation may be, Kim “strongly criticised” healthcare officials for what he called a botched response to epidemic prevention — specifically a failure to keep pharmacies open 24/7 to distribute medicine.

He ordered the army to get to work “on immediately stabilising the supply of medicines in Pyongyang”, the capital, where Omicron was detected last week in North Korea’s first reported cases of Covid-19.

Kim has put himself front and center of North Korea’s disease response, overseeing near-daily emergency Politburo meetings on the outbreak, which he has said is causing “great upheaval” in the country.

The failure to distribute medicine properly was “because officials of the Cabinet and public health sector in charge of the supply have not rolled up their sleeves, not properly recognizing the present crisis”, state media KCNA reported Kim as saying.

Kim, who inspected pharmacies first-hand, “strongly criticized the Cabinet and public health sector for their irresponsible work attitude”, KCNA said.

He also criticized lapses in official legal oversight, flagging “several negative phenomena in the nationwide handling and sale of medicines”.

North Korea has one of the world’s worst healthcare systems, with poorly-equipped hospitals, few intensive care units, and no Covid treatment drugs or mass testing ability, experts say.

“While visiting a pharmacy, Kim Jong Un saw with his eyes the shortage of medicines in North Korea,” Cheong Seong-jang, researcher at the Sejong Institute told AFP.

“He may have guessed but the situation may have been more serious than he had expected.”

KCNA said that as of May 15, a total of 50 people had died, with 1,213,550 cases of “fever” and over half a million currently receiving medical treatment.

North Korea had maintained a rigid blockade since the pandemic began, but with massive Omicron outbreaks in neighbouring countries, experts said it was inevitable Covid would sneak in.

Kim’s public criticism is a sign that the situation on the ground is grim, said Yang Moo-jin, professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.

“He is pointing out the overall inadequacy of the quarantine system,” he said.

North Korea is likely to need international assistance to get through the massive Omicron surge, Yang said, and will turn to China first — but maybe the United States or South Korea if it gets desperate.

North Korea has previously rejected offers of Chinese-made vaccines, but Kim has said they will “actively learn” from Beijing’s so-called zero-Covid disease management approach.

South Korea’s new President Yoon Suk-yeol said Monday that he would “not hold back on providing necessary assistance to the North Korean people”.

“If the North Korean authorities accept, we will not spare any necessary support such as medicine — including Covid-19 vaccines, medical supplies and healthcare personnel,” he told South Korea’s National Assembly.

Pyongyang has not responded to Seoul’s most recent official communication detailing the Covid aid offer, the unification ministry said.

The decision on whether to accept help may depend more on Kim’s nuclear testing plans than the medical situation, said the Sejong Institute’s Cheong.

Despite the public health crisis, new satellite imagery indicates North Korea has resumed construction at a long-dormant nuclear reactor.

The United States and South Korea have warned that Kim is preparing to conduct another nuclear test — the regime’s seventh.

“Receiving help from South Korea will hurt its ego,” Cheong told AFP.

“If Kim Jong Un is determined to conduct a test, he will not accept South Korea’s help,” he added.

Analysts have warned Kim that he may accelerate testing plans in order to distract the public from the coronavirus outbreak.

US President Joe Biden is scheduled to visit Seoul later this week, with discussions about Pyongyang’s weapons programmes and the Covid-19 outbreak likely to be at the top of the agenda.