Few health experts believe North Korea managed to keep out COVID-19 since early 2020. So when Kim Jong Un officially confirmed the nation’s first case on Thursday, the question was more: “Why now?”
Kim has long trumpeted his virus control measures as evidence of his nation’s superiority, calling the efforts a “shining success.” He sealed the border, crippling an already anemic economy, and banned athletes from two Olympics. To keep the disease out, his troops even shot, killed and burned the body of a South Korean government employee who drifted near a nautical border.
All along, outsiders speculated that COVID-19 was already in North Korea, despite its isolation. The commander of U.S. Forces Korea said as early as July 2020 the virus had almost certainly made its way into the country, and both China and Russia had reported outbreaks near their borders with North Korea.
