Link to article: https://nypost.com/2020/11/03/north-korean-covid-19-victims-left-to-die-in-secret-camps-report/
If there is one constant surrounding North Korea, it’s secrecy, and the country’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic has been no exception. Covid is known as the “ghost disease” in North Korea, because the state takes minimal action to track its spread or provide testing to its citizens. The country’s leader, Kim Jong Un, has claimed that the country has had no cases of Covid. However, many foreign personnel doubt this.
Reports from a Korean rights activist have accused the country of keeping its infected citizens in so-called “quarantine camps” close to the South Korean border. The citizens kept in these camps are given little to no food or medicine, and rely on family members passing food through the fence or they risk starving to death.
North Korea has a history of closing its border to other countries. This means it is plausible that the country got the outbreak under control quickly. But it also means that they rarely accept humanitarian aid, leaving the country weak in the aftermath of events like natural disasters and pandemics.
Due to the nature of its economy and political system, most North Korean citizens live in poverty and struggle to afford basic necessities. This also leaves them particularly vulnerable to Covid-19. It cannot be proven whether or not there have been confirmed cases, but it is clear the country does not have the resources necessary for wide-spread virus control.
North Korean propaganda leads its citizens to believe that the international system is uni-polar with North Korea as the said power. However, the current international system is debated. Some believe it is multi-polar with countries such as the US, China, Russia and more making up the world powers. Others believe it is uni-polar with the US as the main power.
China has offered aid to North Korea to fight the pandemic, although Kim Jong Un maintains that there hasn’t been a single confirmed case throughout the country. The two countries have economic ties through trading, and the offer of aid is a show of international collaboration and reciprocity. North Korea gets aid and China gets an additional ally with nuclear weapons.