Allegation Of Foreign Objects On The South Korean Border To Be The Cause Of The COVID-19 Outbreak, Here's North Korea's Explanation

Illustration of COVID-19 in North Korea. (Source: KCNA)

JAKARTA - North Korea blamed the country's COVID-19 outbreak on contact with a 'foreign object' near the South Korean border, in an announcement made Friday.

Announcing the results of the investigation, North Korea ordered people to "vigorously deal with extraneous matters brought in by wind and other climatic phenomena and balloons in areas along demarcation lines and borders," the official KCNA news agency said. July.

The agency does not directly name South Korea, but North Korean defectors and activists have for decades flown balloons from the South across the heavily fortified border, carrying leaflets and humanitarian aid.

South Korea's Unification Ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs, said there was "no possibility" of the virus entering North Korea through leaflets sent across the border.

According to KCNA, an 18-year-old soldier and a five-year-old kindergarten boy, who came into contact with unidentified material "on a hill around the barracks and residences" in the eastern Kumgang region in early April, developed symptoms and later tested positive for the coronavirus.

KCNA said all other fever cases reported in the country up to mid-April were caused by other illnesses, but did not elaborate.

"It's hard to believe North Korea's claims, scientifically, given that the chances of the virus spreading through objects are quite low," said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.

Meanwhile, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said the risk of people becoming infected with COVID through contact with contaminated surfaces or objects is generally considered low, although possible.

North Korea said the first two patients touched unspecified objects in the eastern city in early April, but the first time a defector group is known to have sent balloons across the border this year was in late April from the western Gimpo region.

The first acknowledgment of the COVID-19 outbreak in North Korea, comes months after the country eased a border lockdown imposed since early 2020, to resume freight train operations with China.

But it will be difficult for Pyongyang to point the finger at China, said Lim Eul-chul, a professor at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies at Kyungnam University.

"If they conclude the virus is from China, they should tighten quarantine measures in border areas as a further setback for North Korea-China trade," Lim said.

North Korea has claimed the COVID-19 wave has shown signs of abating, although experts suspect underreporting in figures released through state-controlled media.

North Korea reported 4.570 more people with fever symptoms on Friday, with the total number of fever patients recorded since late April at 4.74 million.

Previously, Pyongyang had announced the number of fever patients each day without specifying whether they had contracted COVID, apparently due to a lack of test kits.