North Korea has reported another “epidemic” on Thursday, as the country is also contending with a COVID-19 outbreak.
According to the Korean Central News Agency, “an acute enteric epidemic” is infecting Haeju city.
North Korea reports another disease outbreak amid COVID-19 wave https://t.co/GriWUAR85J
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It’s unclear how many people are infected with the unnamed disease, but enteric refers to intestinal illnesses, such as typhoid, dysentery, and cholera, which are caused by germs in contaminated food or water.
Such diseases are common in North Korea, given that the public health system in the country has been largely broken for decades.
The news agency reported that leader Kim Jong Un donated medicine from his personal stock, but observers claim that this could just be an apparent effort to burnish his image at a moment of extreme hardship.
Observers also said the donated medicine may have simply come from state storage facilities but was distributed in Kim’s name.
“The outbreak of measles or typhoid isn’t uncommon in North Korea. I think it’s true there is an outbreak of an infectious disease there, but North Korea is using it as an opportunity to emphasize that Kim is caring for his people,” said Ahn Kyung-su, head of DPRKHEALTH.ORG, a website focusing on health issues in North Korea. “So it’s more like a political message than medical one.”
On Thursday, KCNA reported that more than 4.5 million out of the country’s 26 million people have fallen ill due to an unidentified fever, with 73 dead. However, foreign experts question the North’s death toll, saying that’s likely underreported to protect the dictator from any political damage.
North Korea recently claimed that the spread of COVID-19 across the unvaccinated population has slowed down, but the World Health Organization believes the outbreak is worsening in the country.
During a ruling party conference last week, Kim claimed the pandemic situation has passed the stage of “serious crisis.” But the country will still enforce health restrictions.
After the North first announced the COVID-19 outbreak last month, South Korea and the U.S. offered to ship vaccines and other medical supplies, but the North hasn’t responded. South Korea’s Unification Ministry recently renewed its offer of help on health issues.
