North Korean citizens died from counterfeit medications and untreated COVID infections while the communist regime maintained an official policy of denial, forcing an entire nation to participate in a deadly charade.
Key Takeaways
- A new report based on 100 in-person interviews across North Korea reveals COVID-19 was widespread for at least two years while the regime officially denied its existence
- North Korean citizens were forced to rely on folk medicine and counterfeit drugs, resulting in preventable deaths and suffering
- Kim Jong Un criticized officials for slow medicine deliveries while continuing to downplay the true scale of the outbreak
- The regime’s policy created a culture of dishonesty where “doctors were lying to patients, village leaders were lying to the party, and the government was lying to everybody”
- North Korea rejected international aid offers while failing to implement a vaccination program, maximizing citizen suffering
Regime of Lies: North Korea’s COVID Denial
For over two years, North Korea maintained the implausible claim of having zero COVID-19 cases within its borders. This assertion has now been thoroughly debunked by a groundbreaking report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and the George W. Bush Institute. Through extensive interviews conducted inside North Korea between September and December 2023, researchers penetrated the communist regime’s notorious information blockade to reveal the devastating reality experienced by ordinary North Koreans. The findings expose a government that deliberately concealed a raging pandemic while its citizens suffered and died without proper medical care.
“Doctors were lying to the patients. Village leaders were lying to the party. And the government was lying to everybody,” said Dr. Victor Cha, senior vice president for Asia at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
The research team gathered testimony from all nine North Korean provinces and the capital city of Pyongyang using “snowball sampling” methodology. Their findings paint a grim picture of government failure and deception on a massive scale. While state media maintained the fiction of North Korea’s supposed pandemic-free status, COVID-19 was spreading unchecked throughout the country, with particularly severe outbreaks occurring in 2020 and 2021. Only in May 2022 did the regime acknowledge a “fever outbreak,” still refusing to identify it as COVID-19.
Kim’s Failures: Too Little, Too Late
By the time Kim Jong Un publicly acknowledged problems with the pandemic response, the damage was already extensive. In state media, Kim criticized officials for a “disorganized” distribution of medicines and ordered military involvement to stabilize supply chains. However, these belated actions came after the regime had already failed its citizens in the most fundamental ways. The country never implemented a COVID-19 vaccination program, leaving its population completely vulnerable to the virus, and rejected international offers of aid that could have saved countless lives.
“With the country yet to initiate COVID-19 vaccination, there is risk that the virus may spread rapidly among the masses unless curtailed with immediate and appropriate measures,” warned Dr. Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director of the World Health Organization’s Southeast Asia Region.
Official statistics claimed approximately 1.2 million fever cases and only 50 deaths, numbers that experts universally dismissed as absurd. The regime’s practice of attributing COVID deaths to other causes was widely documented. Meanwhile, Kim insisted that economic activity continue uninterrupted, potentially creating more opportunities for viral spread through large gatherings at work sites. This reckless prioritization of economic metrics over human lives epitomizes the callous approach of the communist regime.
The Human Cost: Deaths from Denial
Perhaps most disturbing are the accounts of how ordinary North Koreans attempted to survive without government assistance. With no official acknowledgment of the virus and limited access to healthcare, citizens resorted to folk remedies and black market medications, often with tragic results. The report documents deaths resulting from counterfeit or self-prescribed medicines. Families watched loved ones die while being unable to seek proper medical care due to the regime’s policy of denial.
“When people die, North Korean authorities will say they’ve died of overwork or from natural causes, not because of COVID-19,” explained Nam Sung-wook, professor at Korea University in South Korea.
The communist regime’s response to the pandemic mirrors its approach to all crises: protect the leadership’s image at all costs, even if citizens perish as a result. North Korea imposed maximum preventive measures including strict travel restrictions and quarantines, but failed to provide the most basic necessities to those affected. Limited testing kits were likely reserved for the elite, while ordinary citizens were left to suffer in isolation with no support. This approach created widespread disbelief and frustration among the population.
“They didn’t allow the people to find coping mechanisms. Just shut them down, quarantine them, lock them down – and then provide them with nothing,” said Dr. Victor Cha, highlighting the cruelty of the regime’s approach.
International Abandonment
Despite offers of vaccines and medical assistance from South Korea and China, North Korea refused to accept international aid. The World Health Organization stood ready to provide technical support and medical supplies but was rebuffed by the isolationist regime. This rejection of lifesaving assistance illustrates how North Korea’s leaders prioritize maintaining their façade of self-sufficiency and control over the actual well-being of their citizens. The people of North Korea were effectively abandoned by their government during a global health crisis.
The communist regime’s handling of COVID-19 represents a case study in how authoritarian governments sacrifice their citizens’ lives to maintain political control. Through systematic lying, denial of external aid, and prioritization of propaganda over public health, North Korea’s leadership demonstrated contempt for human life while orchestrating one of the most extensive coverups of the pandemic era. The tragic consequences of this deception will likely never be fully quantified, as the regime continues to obscure the true death toll from a crisis it still refuses to properly acknowledge.
