North Korean Leader Kim Jong-UN “disappeared from all radar” and not seen in public for the past two weeks. That generates many rumours. To this is added the suspicion that the real situation about the spread of the coronavirus in the country is also shrouded in mystery. That is why the confidence that Pyongyang is hiding the real number of infected, a new infection is increasing. Why the country does it, what’s China? And what will happen to North Korea in the event of adverse developments?
When it comes to North Korea, to get accurate information about what is happening in the homeland of the Juche idea is almost impossible. No exception, and information about raging across the world the new type of coronavirus. Therefore, instead of the actual data on the number of infected, or we have heard a variety of rumors and speculation, or propaganda on the part of the authorities of the DPRK.
the North Korean Authorities conceal the true extent of the epidemic of the coronavirus within the state, and the assertion that the country has not registered cases of the disease, is “an absurd lie”. About that Daily Mail said a defector from the North, a former senior North Korean official Kim Myung. According to him, information about the new hospital under construction in Pyongyang, is just part of the propaganda efforts of the state.
Kim Myung sure that hiding information about the number of infected people is directly related to the policies of China. According to him, China began a disinformation campaign to challenge the Chinese origin of the virus. And if North Korea transparently reported about cases of infection of disease, it could add facts that potentially undermine the “campaign of denial” of Beijing.
“These two countries have a common border with a length of 880 miles, and the recognition that large-scale outbreaks Covid-19 North Korea will significantly strengthen the evidence that the pandemic originated in China, – said the former official. – Kim Jong UN may have decided to hide the real data in order not to embarrass the Chinese leader XI Jinping. Given the fact that North Korea is increasingly isolated on the world stage, China is perhaps her only ally.”
additionally, a defector reported that he North Korean leader Kim Jong-UN is allegedly in serious condition after undergoing serious heart surgery.
Speculation about the health of the head of the DPRK started at the time when he was absent at the event in honor of the birthday of his grandfather Kim Il-sung on 15 April, which is one of the biggest holidays in North Korea.
Someone said that the North Korean leader is recovering from heart surgery. There is also a version voiced by some South Korean and Japanese media reports, according to which Kim Jong-UN, due to the hypertonicx risk of Contracting coronavirus infection in the densely populated capital, went on his personal train from Pyongyang to the area the beach resort of Wonsan Calma in his luxurious country house in the territory of which, by the way, is a private hospital.
anyway, no official news about the activity of Kim Jong-UN raises questions about the future of the Korean Peninsula.
a Retired South Korean Lieutenant General Chun In-Bum, former head of the special operations forces, told the US publication Military Times that in case of withdrawal of Kim possible to predict “chaos, human suffering, instability and bad news for everyone.”
he warned that any plans of the Alliance of South Korea and the United States in relation to podinovski North Korea can have devastating consequences: “What are we going to do? We go in there? Let the Chinese do. North Korea is a sovereign country. Anyone who will go – including the Chinese – will be crazy.”
American former Colonel David Maxwell, who is currently working a senior researcher of the analytical center of the Foundation for defense of democracies, believes that the lack of a clear succession of power will lead to chaos in North Korea: “it is not known whether appointed Kim Jong-UN successor. We can assume that, perhaps, his sister Kim yo-Jong was appointed as his successor on the basis of her recent career, and the fact that she started to make official statements on his behalf, since the last month. But it is not known whether the woman become the leader of the Kim family regime”.
Colonel Maxwell said that the lack of a clear successor could trigger a collapse of the regime, but North Korea will deploy a humanitarian catastrophe, exacerbated by the pandemic of coronavirus.
Colonel Maxwell told the Military Times: “South Korea, China and Japan will have to face the potential of large-scale flows of refugees: “units of the Korean people’s army will fight for resources and survival. This will lead to internal conflict between departments and can develop into shirokopolosnoi civil war.”
the Colonel Maxwell warned that even internal strife will not weaken the hostility of North Korea towards the outside world, or her willingness to wage war: “Because North Korea is a guerrilla dynasty, built on the myth of anti-Japanese guerrilla war, we can expect a large number of military and 1.2 million regular forces and 6 million in reserve – will resist any foreign intervention, including South Korea.”
According to the American expert, one should not forget the problems associated with a huge Arsenal of weapons of mass destruction North Korea: “the Alliance of South Korea and the United States should be ready��m to secure the entire program of weapons of mass destruction, nuclear, chemical, biological weapons. In the event of unforeseen circumstances of Afghanistan and Iraq will pale in comparison with this operation.”
In the past there were cases, when out of sight was lost the leader of North Korea, but now the situation is imposed on the crisis of the pandemic. And here, too, there are questions.
Despite the lack of official information about the cases Covid-19 in North Korea, Pyongyang in January (and, for a moment, before all the countries of Europe) has closed the state border to prevent the outbreak of disease. Along with this limitation, the DPRK temporarily suspended classes in schools and universities, have stopped working and other public institutions. North Korean media called the pandemic “a matter of survival of the nation.”
In his Global plan for humanitarian response to the pandemic Covid-19 the United Nations has determined that the North Korean health care system lacks many resources, among which water, electricity, and tools of individual protection for the population. According to estimates of UN experts, nine million people in the DPRK have limited access to basic health services.
“That’s why the reaction of North Korea to Covid-19 was so quick and hard, – said in an interview the Deputy head of the research center of humanitarian leadership Nazanin the Ass-Cummings. – The regime knows that the pandemic can have disastrous consequences.”
Restrictions on the media and any other foreign presence in the country is not possible to obtain a full picture of what is really happening in North Korea and protection from infection of the new type of the most vulnerable segments of the population.
Understanding the potential epidemiological disaster in the DPRK, the UN Security Council, as an exception, approved requests for humanitarian assistance to the country aimed at combating coronavirus. The fact that the supply of medicines, tests, and individual protection equipment because of the sanctions imposed against North Korea, every time the government must obtain a special permit in the structures of the UN. Even despite the fact that these items are not included in the sanctions list.
a new report by the Center for humanitarian leadership, “Humanitarian assistance in North Korea: requirements, sanctions and future challenges” – the Ass-Cummings puts forward the argument that exceptions should be part of the permanent plan of action that will allow governments and humanitarian organizations to provide support to Pyongyang, regardless of its political setup.
“it is Important to remember that the DPRK should not be associated only with nuclear weaponsm and the regime of Kim” she said. – We should not forget about the humanity towards the North Korean people, even if we are not free to communicate with him”.
