Kim Jong-un, the 38-year-old Supreme Leader of North Korea, is perhaps the most paranoid ruler in the world. A terrible historical accident after WWII split Korea into two parts, the democratic South later becoming one of the world’s most prosperous economies and the cult-driven autocratic North, an impoverished country.
How to find out the pandemic’s effect on this secretive
country? Well, some institutes share satellite images. Occasionally, Dear Comrade
Kim Jong-un (that is how he must be addressed every time) releases a video, or
there are foreign ambassadors who may offer candid interviews.
*****
North Korea’s border with China is porous. Chinese tourists
can visit Pyongyang easily. Though North Korea has denied it, it is likely the virus
had entered the nation early. It became among the first nations to close all
borders in both directions. Reportedly 180 North Korean soldiers died in Jan-Feb,
and 3700 soldiers were under quarantine. Schools were shut on 20 February, and
a year later, still remain shut.
In early March, missile tests were conducted, the
military fired five missiles. The supreme people’s assembly was announced in
April. These measures were meant to show confidence that the nation was
handling the virus well.
In March, the Royal United Services Institute shared
satellite imagery that showed the illegal traffic of coal and other goods had
stopped. Commercial vessels were seen idle at the ports. In March, the official
export to China was $610,000, down 96% from the previous year.
Between April and June, three months combined, Dear
Comrade was seen only seven times. On average he had made 46 appearances during
that period in the past years.
In August, an official who tried to bring goods to
Sinuiju from across the Chinese border was executed for violating covid-19
restrictions. On 22 September, the crew of a North Korean patrol boat killed a
South Korean fisheries officer who, by chance, came close to the coast. They
torched his floatation device. Both these acts were as prescribed by the covid-19
emergency orders. On television, Kim Jong-un expressed regret for the death.
The incident should not have happened, he was disappointed, he said.
*****
It is difficult to imagine further isolation of North
Korea, but it was managed; by the ruler himself. China offered 110,000 tons of
rice which never left China’s port of Dalian because North Korea feared the
coronavirus could enter with the shipment.
Alexander Matsegora, the Russian ambassador, trapped
inside the Russian embassy in Pyongyang now for more than a year, confirmed even
basic items such as soyabean oil, sugar, flour, pasta have not been supplied.
North Korea doesn’t produce, but imports them from China. Where available in
black markets, the prices have gone up at least four times.
In rural areas, households get two hours of
electricity a day. Fertilizer shortages could aggravate the food situation further.
Typical of communist States, North Korea believes in specialized giant factories.
Many of them rely exclusively on China for spare parts. For want of spare
parts, many factories are closed, including the nation’s largest fertilizer
plant. Power plant output has become unreliable. Production is halted at coal
mines and other mines.
*****
In the winter
of 2020, Kim Jong-un introduced a new law against “reactionary thought”. It
made listening to, recording or distributing foreign radio broadcasts, videos,
books, music illegal. Those caught can be sentenced to death. Any citizen using
South Korean expression or speaking with a South Korean accent will be sent for
two years to a hard labour camp.
An official State TV footing from 11 February showed
an angry Kim yelling, finger pointing and striking the podium as he addressed
the ruling party’s plenary meeting. He fired Kim Tu Il, the Economic Director.
Dear Comrade, however, continued to declare North
Korea’s victory by claiming the nation didn’t have a single covid-19 case.
Ravi
Horrors!
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