A North Korean state propaganda website announced the creation of a domestically accessible website to help citizens quit smoking on Sunday, news that arrives as Pyongyang expedites the construction of a new hospital and insists it has yet to be affected by the Chinese coronavirus pandemic.
At press time, North Korean authorities claim they have documented zero cases of Chinese coronavirus in the country despite its close geographical proximity to some of the nations most severely affected by the virus on the planet, including its origin country, China, and nations like Russia and South Korea. In July, Pyongyang claimed it had identified a potential coronavirus case in a refugee who, accused of rape in South Korea, had reportedly attempted to flee to his home country. Testing, the World Health Organization (W.H.O.) concluded, proved “inconclusive,” allowing Pyongyang to continue claiming zero coronavirus diagnoses on its soil.
The communist regime rolled out its anti-smoking website as it announced that dictator Kim Jong-un had “accelerated” the construction of the Pyongyang General Hospital, a project announced in March in a bizarre speech by the dictator claiming that his Worker’s Party (WPK) felt “miserably self-critical” about the dire state of the country and vowed to expand access to health care. Kim did not link the sudden need for new medical facilities to the pandemic in any way in his remarks.
The anti-smoking website exists only in the insular North Korean internet, created so that no one in the country can access information on the greater global internet (viewing media not produced by the Workers’ Party in North Korea is a crime punishable by death). According to the South Korean newswire service Yonhap, the state propaganda website Meari announced its debut “to provide the public with information about quitting smoking.”
“Meari said that providing science-based information is key to the anti-smoking campaign. The research center is also offering services checking the amount of nicotine in a smoker’s body while producing teas and other beverages believed to be conducive to quit-smoking efforts, according to the website,” Yonhap reported.
The South Korean outlet noted that the site appeared to be part of a greater anti-smoking campaign in the country that began last year, so it may not be a sudden response to coronavirus, a respiratory illness. The campaign has included the establishment of “no smoking” areas in public, but not state media no longer publishing images of Kim Jong-un himself smoking. Experts believe Kim to be a “heavy smoker,” Yonhap noted.
While the website rollout has attracted more attention, North Korean state media also published on Sunday news that “the construction of the Pyongyang General Hospital is now progressing apace.” The state outlet “Voice of Korea” claimed that workers had “accelerated” construction, but detailed only what appeared to be regular progress at the construction site.
A similar update published on August 19 in the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) wires used similar language, listing work on the building’s sewage pumping station and roof.
While North Korea has yet to publicly connect the construction of the hospital to the coronavirus pandemic, reports over the weekend also claimed that officials in local coastal regions had “toughened” restrictions to prevent the spread of the virus.
“Anti-epidemic measures have been toughened in the DPRK [North Korea] to thoroughly check the maritime inroads of the malignant virus,” the state newspaper Rodong Sinmun claimed on Saturday. “Emergency anti-epidemic organs in coastal areas are scrupulously organizing the work for further strengthening the anti-epidemic inspection along the seashore and its vicinity.”
Among the alleged measures in place, Rodong Sinmun listed heightened surveillance systems and “incinerating and burying the beach-drifting rubbishes.”
The focus on health programs is surfacing amid rumors once again that Kim is facing significant health challenges. A former aid to late South Korean president Kim Dae-jung, Jang Sung-min, posted on social media Friday that Kim Jong-un is in a coma, according to the Korea Herald. His only evidence is a report claiming Kim expanded the political power of his sister, Kim Yo-jong, last week. While North Korean state media has not confirmed that claim, South Korean intelligence officials claimed that Kim Yo-jong had risen to second-in-command last week after tasking her with leading negotiations with the United States. Kim has so far used that role mainly to request that Washington send her DVDs of Independence Day fireworks celebrations.
Similar rumors of Kim’s death or near-death circulated in April, disproven after North Korean state media published photos and videos of Kim visiting flood-affected areas.
Kim may soon have to make public appearances to promote the eighth congress of the communist WPK, announced last week. The WPK convenes at the dictator’s behest and has done so seven times before. The Party is now scheduled to meet in January 2021 to “set forth a correct line of struggle and strategic and tactical policies on the basis of the new requirements of our developing revolution and the prevailing situation,” according to state media. The published agenda of the assembly offered few details on what topics officials will discuss, only claiming that officials will plan for the future of the Party.
“It is the party’s intention to swiftly overcome and rectify shortcomings and in the process we will be able to raise our revolution to a higher level,” Rodong Sinmun asserted. The state newspaper also reported that, in announcing the new congress, Kim admitted that North Korea was facing “severe” challenges, though he apparently was referencing ongoing floods in rural areas and an economic crisis exacerbated by strict international sanctions placed in response to its illegal nuclear weapons program.
State media did not reference the Chinese coronavirus pandemic in relation to congress plans.
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