Experts question low death count

North Korea said Friday that nearly 10% of its 26 million people have fallen ill and 65 people have died amid its first COVID-19 outbreak, as outside experts question the validity of its reported fatalities and worry about a possible humanitarian crisis.

After admitting the omicron outbreak last week following more than two years of claiming to be coronavirus-free, North Korea has said an unidentified fever has been explosively spreading across the country since late April. Its epidemic center has since released fever tallies each morning via state media, but they don’t include any COVID-19 figures.

Some observers say North Korea was likely forced to acknowledge the COVID-19 outbreak because it couldn’t hide the highly contagious viral spread among its people. They believe North Korean authorities are underreporting deaths to try to show that its pandemic response is effective, while the country lacks test kits to confirm a large number of virus cases.

“It’s true that there has been a hole in its 2½ years of pandemic fighting,” said Kwak Gil Sup, head of One Korea Center, a website specializing in North Korea affairs. “But there is a saying that North Korea is ‘a theater state,’ and I think they are massaging COVID-19 statistics.”

On Friday, the North’s emergency epidemic prevention office said 263,370 more people had feverish symptoms and two more people died, bringing the total fever cases to 2.24 million and fatalities to 65. They said 754,810 people remain quarantined.

Some media reports said North Korea sent planes this week to China to bring back emergency supplies.