N. Korea viewed as vulnerable
SEOUL, South Korea — The coronavirus pandemic has likely taken a heavy toll on North Korea, forcing leader Kim Jong Un to avoid public activities and his people into panic buying for daily necessities, South Korea’s spy agency told lawmakers Wednesday.
Although North Korea has taken intense quarantine measures, it maintains there are no domestic infections. Many outside experts are skeptical and warn that an epidemic could be dire because of the North’s fragile health care system.
South Korea’s National Intelligence Service told a closed-door parliamentary committee in Seoul that the pandemic is one of the reasons Kim Jong Un has made far fewer public appearances this year, according to Kim Byung Kee, one of the lawmakers who attended the spy agency meeting.
As of Wednesday, Kim Jong Un appeared in public 17 times this year, compared with an average of 50 appearances in the same time period each year since he took power in late 2011, the lawmaker said, citing the NIS.
The NIS said it cannot rule out a virus outbreak in North Korea because traffic along the China-north Korea border was active before the North closed crossings in January in an attempt to stop the spread of the virus, according to the lawmaker.
Last Friday, Kim Jong Un ended his 20-day public absence when he appeared at a ceremony marking the completion of a fertilizer factory near Pyongyang. His time away triggered rumors about his health and worries about the future of his country.
The NIS said the virus pandemic is hurting North Korea’s economy, mainly because of the border closure with China, its biggest trading partner and aid provider. China accounts for about 90 percent of North Korea’s external trade flow.
The trade volume between North Korea and China in the first quarter of this year was $230 million, marking a 55 percent decline from the same period last year. In March, the bilateral trade volume suffered a 91 percent drop, the NIS was quoted as saying.
This led to the prices of imported foodstuffs such as sugar and seasonings skyrocketing, Kim Byung Kee quoted the spy agency as saying.