According to KCNA, at the eighth Politburo meeting of the Eighth Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea held on the 12th, the Politburo admitted that the Omiljun strain was found for the first time in the territory on the 8th, announcing that the record of "zero infection" for two years and three months from February 2020 was broken. Kim Jong-un, general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea, immediately announced that the national epidemic prevention work would be transferred to the largest emergency epidemic prevention system.
Video released by North Korea's Central Television (KCTV).
"National Epidemic Prevention Crisis"
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, North Korea has closed its borders to guard against the importation of the virus from abroad. At the same time, a state of national emergency was declared and strict sanitize measures were carried out. However, north Korea has not imported any vaccines since the outbreak of the epidemic, and it is widely believed to be one of the only two countries in the world that has not started mass COVID-19 vaccination. For a long time, although there have been many rumors, the North Korean side has insisted that there are no cases of infection in the country. But at the meeting, the Politburo admitted that the emergency epidemic prevention front that had been held up for was broken.
On May 8, the National Emergency Epidemic Prevention Command and relevant units reviewed the genetic sequencing analysis of samples of some fever patients in a group in the capital and concluded that they were consistent with the recent globally spreading "BA.2" strain of Theomilon virus. The meeting briefed on the spread of the epidemic throughout the country and discussed the adoption of urgent measures to grasp the initiative in the future epidemic prevention war. However, KCNA did not mention in the report how many people were infected with the Omicron virus, nor did it talk about the related treatment.
Kim Jong-un proposed epidemic prevention measures
In response to the sudden outbreak of the epidemic, Kim Jong-un put forward the principles and tasks to be adhered to in the emergency epidemic prevention work at the meeting.
First, the national epidemic prevention work will be transferred to the largest emergency epidemic prevention system.
Second, the National Emergency Epidemic Prevention Command has taken pragmatic measures to transfer the national epidemic prevention work to the largest emergency epidemic prevention system, and strictly controls and directs the overall epidemic prevention work of the state.
Third, the party and government organs, economic organs, security, defense, armed forces organs and other organs and departments regard the decision-making and deployment of the National Emergency Epidemic Prevention Command as the requirements of the Party Central Committee to unconditionally accept and resolutely implement it in place, and establish a work system in an orderly manner in accordance with the largest emergency epidemic prevention system to ensure that there is no slightest deviation in the overall work of the state.
He believes that the basic purpose of the largest emergency epidemic prevention system is to stabilize the containment and control of the spread of the new crown pneumonia virus imported into the DPRK, cure the infected as soon as possible and eliminate the root causes of transmission in the shortest possible time. "Now for us, the more dangerous enemy than the vicious virus is the terror of non-science, the lack of confidence and the weakness of will. With the strong organizational strength of the party and the government and the people, and a high degree of political awareness and consciousness of everyone who has been consolidated through the long-term training of emergency epidemic prevention work, we will certainly overcome the sudden situation we are facing and win victory in emergency epidemic prevention work. ”
Kim Jong-un stressed the need for emergency deployment and scientific centralized testing and treatment battles, and decided to distribute spare medical supplies that the party and the government expect to stockpile during emergency periods like the present. He pointed out that the health department and the emergency epidemic prevention department should strictly carry out centralized inspection and quarantine of the whole population, actively take medical observation and treatment measures, and strengthen the disinfection of every corner of the working space, working space and living space, and cut off and eliminate the root cause of the spread of the malignant virus.
In addition to the issue of epidemic prevention, Kim Jong-un also pointed out: "We cannot stop the pace of progress toward the comprehensive development of socialist construction, let alone sloppy economic work in the plan, and stressed that the government and the state economic guidance organs and relevant units should do a more thorough job in organizing, dispatching and directing economic work to maximize the current agricultural production, important industrial sectors and factory and enterprise production in accordance with the transfer of the national epidemic prevention system to the largest emergency epidemic prevention system. As scheduled, the construction of 10,000 sets of houses in Hesheng area and the construction of Lianpu Greenhouse Farm have been implemented as scheduled and the long-cherished work of our party to love the people. Party and government organs should minimize the inconvenience and hardship experienced by the people under the circumstances of the imposition of a high-intensity blockade, settle their lives, and take earnest measures to prevent the slightest negative phenomenon. At the same time, he stressed that it is necessary to further consolidate the national defense outpost and use armed forces to ensure the victory of the epidemic prevention war, and also particularly stressed that it is necessary to further strengthen the vigilance duty tasks on the front line and border, at sea and in the air, and the defense department will ensure that there will be no security leakage.
Concerns have intensified
After North Korea acknowledged the outbreak in its home country, foreign media expressed concerns. Leif-Eric Easley, a professor of international relations at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, said that for Pyongyang, publicly acknowledging a case of COVID-19 means that the public health situation is already very bad. "The worsening outbreak is a serious challenge for Kim Jong-un, who not only has to face challenges such as limiting infections, deaths, and food shortages," Mr. Isley said. ”
Cheong Seong-chang, director of the North Korea Research Center at South Korea's Sejong Institute, worries that North Korea's new outbreak control measures could further restrict the movement of people and goods between towns and factories and disrupt supply and production. "If North Korea cannot control the outbreak, it could face a serious food crisis and chaos."
The New York Times pointed out that North Korea has previously strictly restricted foreign materials and refused to provide assistance, and it is not known whether the outbreak of the epidemic will make North Korea change its policy and accept humanitarian assistance such as vaccines and health supplies. South Korea's Unification Ministry has said it is willing to provide medical assistance and other assistance to North Korea based on humanitarian considerations. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said at a regular news conference on 12 July that China and the DPRK are friendly neighbors linked by mountains and rivers, and the two sides have a fine tradition of watching out for each other and helping each other. "Since the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the DPRK side has been firmly supporting China in fighting the epidemic, and the Chinese side is deeply grateful for this. As comrades, neighbors and friends, China is ready to provide full support and assistance to the DPRK in fighting the epidemic. ”
News sources: KCNA, The New York Times, The Associated Press, some of the pictures are from the Internet
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