North Korea’s deadly deception: As thousands died from COVID-19, Kim Jong Un’s regime enforced a policy of total denial, forcing citizens, doctors, and officials to lie about the true scope of the pandemic while denying them access to proper medical care.
Key Takeaways
- North Korea systematically denied COVID-19 cases for over two years while the virus was actually widespread throughout all provinces, according to a landmark study of 100 interviews conducted inside the secretive nation.
- The regime’s policy of official denial created a cascading system of lies where doctors lied to patients, officials lied to superiors, and citizens suffered without proper medical treatment.
- Many North Koreans died from counterfeit medicines or improper self-treatment methods when denied official healthcare during severe COVID outbreaks in 2020 and 2021.
- Kim Jong Un criticized his own officials for slow medicine deliveries while simultaneously maintaining the fiction that North Korea had kept the virus at bay, compromising pandemic response efforts.
- Despite offers of vaccines and aid from South Korea, China, and international organizations, North Korea failed to implement vaccination programs, leaving its population highly vulnerable.
A Nation-Wide Web of Deception
A groundbreaking investigation by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and the George W. Bush Institute has exposed the devastating reality behind North Korea’s COVID-19 facade. Through 100 in-person interviews conducted inside North Korea between September and December 2023, researchers uncovered a systematic pattern of denial and deception that permeated every level of North Korean society during the pandemic. The study’s “snowball sampling” methodology gathered testimony from citizens across all nine provinces and the capital city of Pyongyang, providing unprecedented insight into the country’s mismanagement of the crisis.
“Doctors were lying to the patients. Village leaders were lying to the party. And the government was lying to everybody,” said Dr. Victor Cha, Senior Vice President for Asia at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
While North Korean state media initially claimed zero infections within its borders, the reality on the ground told a drastically different story. The report reveals that COVID-19 had been circulating widely throughout the country for at least two years, with particularly severe outbreaks in 2020 and 2021. Only in May 2022 did the regime finally acknowledge a “fever outbreak,” though it continued to minimize the severity by reporting just 4.77 million fever cases and only 74 deaths in a population of 26 million – figures that experts universally dismiss as implausible.
The Human Cost of Denial
North Korea’s policy of COVID denial extracted a terrible human toll. With no official acknowledgment of the virus, citizens were denied proper medical care and forced to rely on folk remedies, counterfeit medicines, or dangerous self-prescribed treatments. The regime’s approach to the pandemic emphasized control over care, implementing harsh quarantines and lockdowns while providing virtually no medical support to those affected. Many North Koreans reportedly died from improper treatments or lack of access to basic healthcare services.
“When people die, North Korean authorities will say they’ve died of overwork or from natural causes, not because of COVID-19,” said Nam Sung-wook, a professor at Korea University.
The situation was exacerbated by North Korea’s refusal to implement a COVID-19 vaccination program, despite offers of vaccines from South Korea, China, and international organizations like COVAX. This decision left the population highly vulnerable to severe illness and death, particularly among the elderly and those with underlying health conditions. The World Health Organization expressed serious concern about the potential for rapid spread in an unvaccinated population but was unable to provide meaningful assistance due to the regime’s refusal to acknowledge the problem.
Kim’s Contradictory Response
In a display of contradictory leadership, Kim Jong Un publicly criticized government and health officials for their “disorganized” pandemic response while simultaneously perpetuating the myth that North Korea had successfully kept the virus at bay for years. In May 2022, when the regime finally acknowledged some cases, Kim ordered military involvement to stabilize medicine supplies and lambasted officials for slow medicine deliveries. Yet, these admissions came far too late to prevent widespread suffering among ordinary citizens.
“They didn’t allow the people to find coping mechanisms. Just shut them down, quarantine them, lock them down – and then provided them with nothing,” said Dr. Victor Cha.
Remarkably, even as COVID-19 raged through the country, Kim insisted that economic production must continue uninterrupted, potentially exacerbating the spread through continued large gatherings at work sites. The regime’s maximum preventive measures, including strict travel restrictions and quarantines, were implemented without complementary medical support or treatment options. Testing was severely limited, with what few test kits were available likely reserved for the elite rather than ordinary citizens experiencing symptoms.
International Implications
North Korea’s deception has serious implications beyond its borders. By denying the existence of COVID-19 within the country for years, the regime not only endangered its own citizens but also undermined global pandemic response efforts. Accurate reporting is essential for tracking viral spread and variants, and North Korea’s systematic misrepresentation created a dangerous blind spot in the international health community’s understanding of the pandemic. This deception also prevented timely humanitarian aid that could have saved countless lives.
“With the country yet to initiate COVID-19 vaccination, there is risk that the virus may spread rapidly among the masses unless curtailed with immediate and appropriate measures,” warned Dr. Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director of WHO’s Southeast Asia Region.
The CSIS report represents a rare and valuable window into the closed society of North Korea during a global crisis. The findings reveal not just a failure of public health response but a deliberate policy of deception that caused immense suffering. For a population already facing chronic food insecurity and limited healthcare access, the pandemic became yet another burden made heavier by government neglect and dishonesty. As the world continues to learn lessons from COVID-19, North Korea’s approach stands as a stark warning about the deadly consequences of prioritizing political fiction over public health reality.
