Kim Jong Un Declares North Korea's Victory Over COVID-19 with Just 74 Reported Deaths, Blames South for Outbreak

North Korea claimed to have had no coronavirus cases for more than two years. Then, earlier this year, they recognized a pandemic while referring to it as a fever. Now, North Korea claims that its COVID-19 outbreak is over.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un claimed success in the country's campaign against the sickness this week, according to the Yonhap News Agency, quoting the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

North Korea Lifts COVID-19 Measures

The South Korean government expressed deep regret over North Korea's arrogant and threatening words during the national meeting on assessing anti-epidemic measures, an unofficial from the Unification Ministry said in a statement, according to National Interest.

As per analysts, while the totalitarian North has exploited the pandemic to tighten social controls, its victory announcement might be a prelude to restarting commerce, which has been impeded by border closures and other restrictions.

Observers believe it may also pave the path for the North to perform a nuclear test for the first time since 2017. As reported by KCNA, quoting another official, North Korea's stated death rate of 74 individuals is an exceptional miracle in comparison to other countries.

North Korea stated the number of persons with fever symptoms rather than verified cases. On May 15, the number of daily cases reached over 392,000, causing health experts to warn of an impending disaster. The World Health Organization has questioned North Korea's assertions, stating last month that it felt the situation was worsening rather than improving due to a lack of independent evidence.

Even though Pyongyang has launched no known vaccination program, Pyongyang has declared a triumph. Instead, the government claims to have depended on lockdowns, domestic medicine, and what Kim refers to as the advantageous Korean-style communist system.

The North has stated that it is conducting extensive medical checks around the country, with daily PCR tests on water collected in border regions among the precautions. It also stated that it has been working on new technologies to identify the virus and its variations, as well as other infectious disorders like monkeypox, as per CNN.

Kim Yo Jong Blames South Korea for the Outbreak

Kim Yo Jong, Kim Jong Un's sister, said the North Korean leader experienced fever symptoms and blamed the pandemic on South Korean leaflets. She said that South Korea was behind the leaflets and that the North would respond with armed force if they did not cease.

South Korean activists are known to float balloons across the border with pamphlets criticizing Kim Jong-un, although it is improbable that they provoked a pandemic of COVID-19. There were big demonstrations in April of this year, and the government also opened its borders to freight business from China in January.

The first evidence that North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un is afflicted with coronavirus has surfaced, after the state's allegation that he is very unwell. The sister of the head of the clandestine country notorious for its ruthless treatment of inhabitants and hushed-up views disclosed that he had been suffering from fever symptoms.

The propaganda was discovered at a party workers' gathering for a national conference for assessing the emergency anti-epidemic activity which was advertised on May 12 this year.

This is doubtful since there have been reports of around 4.8 million instances of fever that have not been classified as COVID-19. The country is known to have a scarcity of testing kits and claimed not to have seen a single instance of the virus throughout the first two years of the pandemic, Mirror reported.