North Korea declares “victory” over COVID-19

In her first known televised speech, leader Kim Jong Un’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, said her brother suffered a fever but is recovering and the country has beaten COVID-19. The country reported about 4.8 million “fever cases” since it first acknowledged an outbreak in May but has not released official numbers on how many of those were COVID-19 cases. Kim Yo Jong said the outbreak has been slowing for weeks and just 74 people died. She said the country has not given a single vaccine but implemented heavy lockdowns.

How did the outbreak start? Kim Yo Jong said in her speech that it came from contaminated leaflets that South Koreans sent across the border—then she vowed “deadly” retaliation. Outside experts said the origin is more likely from when North Korea briefly opened its border to Chinese freight traffic in January. They said large events like a military parade in Pyongyang in April probably helped spread the virus. 

Dig Deeper: Listen to Josh Schumacher’s report on The World and Everything in It podcast about Japan and South Korea overcoming hostility in the face of common enemies.