NK News report on "corona virus like" cases in North Korea.

[soryang]

Link to tweet

This from TK at the AAK twitter feed. This is the Daily NK investigation feature. Apparently, the NK News website for professional NK watchers, has a source who provided this story allegedly with information from the North Korean central emergency infectious disease control command ( 중앙 비상방역지휘부에서 ) .

Their associated graphic shows 23 deaths from acute pneumonia, and 82 people with symptoms similar to covid 19 in quarantine, "receiving treatment," North Korea wide. Apparently, the government authorities are maintaining for domestic political purposes, as they have in past epidemics that they don't have any covid-19 cases.

The chart shows the outbreak of the respiratory failure type fatalities, and quarantine cases. As to be expected most of them are near places associated with international trade, mostly with China, or in the case of Rason in the northeast border region, with Russia as well. (Rason is cut off on AAK's twitter image above.) If you go to the Daily NK link, it is there. Rason is 2 dead, 15 quarantined. On the northwest border with China, Sinuiju, and Uiju, 8 dead, 32 quarantined; Just south of there in Rongcheon (sp?) 4 dead, 12 quarantined; Pyongyang, 7 dead, 16 quarantined; Further south on West Sea coast closer to South Korea, Heju, 2 dead, 7 quarantined.

This is the direct link to the story above (in Korean) which has the full graphic:

https://www.dailynk.com/%EB%8B%A8%EB%8F%85-%E5%8C%97-%EC%9D%80%EB%B0%80%ED%9E%88-%EC%BD%94%EB%A1%9C%EB%82%98-%EC%A7%91%EA%B3%84-%E4%B8%AD-%EC%9C%A0%EC%82%AC%EC%A6%9D%EC%84%B8-%EC%82%AC%EB%A7%9D%EC%9E%90-20/

[LisaM]

1. My heart just sank.

This could be very, very bad news, with a government that thrives on lies and puffery.

[redwitch]

3. And a populace that is malnourished.

It will be bad there.

[LisaM]

5. Yes, that's an excellent point.

Very sombering.

[defacto7]

2. Didn't I just read in the last day or so

that Russia just supplied NK with covid testing kits? It sounds like there's a problem.

[soryang]

4. Yes, it seems like it

that's more deaths than South Korea's but far less getting "treatment." I can't make sense of the numbers, and we don't know enough. This looks like a limited hangout, perhaps in an effort to get some more aid going. I thought it was interesting. Early on, i had read of rumors of 5 fatalities in Sinuiju from this same website NK News.