Report: North Korea Imposes Stricter Mask Mandate Despite Claiming End of Coronavirus

Citizens lamented in remarks to Radio Free Asia published on Monday that North Korea has reinstated a mask mandate in some provinces about a month after declaring that the communist regime had completely eliminated the Chinese coronavirus from its territory.

North Korea was one of the last countries in the world to formally report its first case of Chinese coronavirus. While the pandemic began in central Wuhan, China, in late 2019, Pyongyang only announced the confirmation of a first case in May 2022. By August, dictator Kim Jong-un announced a “victory” against the disease, publishing commemorative posters to honor health workers and soldiers for their efforts in allegedly eradicating the disease.

Kim’s regime also hosted a giant celebration last week in the heart of Pyongyang to mark the anniversary of the founding of communist North Korea, a sign that the regime felt comfortable convening large crowds for mass events that could trigger a “superspreader” coronavirus situation. The last event of its kind occurred in late April – a parade to celebrate the founding of the North Korean military – prior to the announcement of a local coronavirus epidemic. Many experts have suggested that the parade itself played a role in the eruption of cases nationwide, as many soldiers traveled nationwide to Pyongyang to attend.

Kim Jong-un had “recommended” mask use in a speech last week, but his remarks did not specify the imposition of any legal restrictions on citizens.

Anonymous residents of South Hamgyong, North Korea, told the American publication RFA that communist officials had not only restored mask mandates in their area, but are “cracking down more harshly” with onerous fines that many impoverished North Koreans cannot afford.

“They said that the coronavirus crisis was over, but in less than one month they are telling us to wear masks again and they are cracking down more harshly,” one of the unnamed sources in North Korea lamented to RFA. “The people are complaining that they are trying to take their money with excessive fines.”

The source blamed provincial authorities, not the central government in Pyongyang, for the mask mandate.

Elsewhere in the country, North Koreans told RFA that communist authorities were sending “inspection teams” out to “crowded places” like train stations and factories to ensure that sanitary masks were being used, and noted that the renewed focus on coronavirus mitigation efforts began as locals observed growing numbers of individuals with symptoms associated with Chinese coronavirus. The Chinese coronavirus causes respiratory illness and is often characterized by coughing, difficulty breathing, body aches, fever, and other flu-like symptoms in mild cases, according to the American Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Chinese coronavirus can be a deadly disease, particularly for individuals with diabetes, heart disease, or other conditions.

Pyongyang has not issued any announcements of a resurgence of the disease that would justify the return of social distancing measures or mask mandates.

“Residents are criticizing the authorities for strengthening means of control over residents, lying that the [Chinese coronavirus] crisis has ended, and repeating false propaganda that they are beefing up [Chinese coronavirus] prevention measures again because of South Korea,” an anonymous North Korean source told RFA.

North Korean officials formally declared the local epidemic over in mid-August, debuting communist posters celebrating health workers and announcing a “great victory in the anti-epidemic campaign!” The victory declaration followed state media confirmations in early September that Kim Jong-un had personally experienced a coronavirus infection, referring to it with the preferred euphemism in the country of “high fever.”

“The much respected leader has greatly suffered in high fever in the middle of the anti-pandemic battle,” Rodong Sinmun, the top national regime newspaper, asserted in its Korean edition (its English-language website published a version of the same article that omitted the news of Kim’s infection). Rodong Sinmun claimed that Kim fell ill after visiting frontline workers, who were allegedly “teary and held their emotions as they saw the leader who was there and encouraged them at the risk of contagion.”

Prior to the confirmation, Kim’s sister, senior official Kim Yo-jong claimed in a speech formally observing the alleged end of the epidemic that her brother worked through his coronavirus infection.

“He must be responsible to the end of the world and so cannot stay in bed even when he was suffering from the high and scary fever,” Kim Yo-jong told a crowd at a victory celebration. Again, North Korea omitted the remark in its English-language translation of her speech.

North Korea’s state media outlets, the only legal source of news and information in the country, have not reported on any heightened coronavirus concerns on the part of the communist government following the declaration of “victory” in August. Some reports do indicate, however, that the regime continues to invest in disease prevention efforts that imply that coronavirus remains a top priority for Kim. On Monday, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the regime’s main newswire service, announced that Pyongyang University of Medicine had begun a new round of training for health workers to address coronavirus cases specifically.

“Officials at the faculty are introducing methods for improving the quality of distance in-service training while helping anti-epidemic workers acquire at least one advanced techniques and clinical experience,” KCNA claimed. “Thousands of anti-epidemic workers across the country are now enlisted in the distance in-service training system and the number is on the daily rise.”

Kim Jong-un also announced a mass coronavirus vaccination campaign last week, a sign that the disease continues to present problems.

“I must recommend responsible vaccine administration starting this November and wearing masks for the protection of the health of all citizens,” Kim said last week, according to Rodong Sinmun. NK News, which covered the Kim remarks, noted that North Korea lifted its national mask mandate on August 12 but had still kept it in place near its borders. North Korea borders China, Russia, and South Korea, all of which have experienced prodigious rates of coronavirus infection.

Kim claimed that the vaccination campaign was necessary because citizens would lose their natural antibodies from infections occurring between May and August: “Our anti-epidemic experts reported that antibody levels in our people who came down with the malignant virus in May and June will decrease in October.”

Much of the science surrounding antibody production in coronavirus patients remains unsettled.

“Based on what we know right now, risk of reinfection is low for at least the first 6 months following an infection with the virus that causes [Chinese coronavirus] diagnosed by a laboratory test,” the CDC notes on its website.

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