North Korea Claims Zero COVID Cases Since August 2022—Is It True?

According to a self-reported human rights assessment submitted to the UN, North Korea has claimed there have been no COVID-19 infections since August 2022

In its Universal Periodic Review (UPR) report, presented to the UN Human Rights Council on Thursday, North Korea stated that it took swift action when COVID-19 first emerged, elevating its national emergency quarantine system to the highest level. The UPR is a mechanism through which the human rights records of all 193 UN member states are reviewed every four and a half years.

Ahead of the UPR implementation in November, North Korea submitted a self-evaluated report on improving its citizens’ human rights. The health rights section included an explanation of COVID-19, which the international community consistently expressed concern about.

The report noted that in May 2022, a “malignant disease” began to spread across North Korea. In response, the regime claimed to have sealed all routes by land, sea, and air, implemented telemedicine systems, and used home-based medical care to identify fever cases and provide isolation and treatment.

It continues to mention that measures were taken at the national level to provide medicines to those in need; all drugstores were required to provide round-the-clock service. As a result, within less than three months of the operation of the top-level anti-epidemic system, over 4.7 million fever carriers were completely recovered, with the fatality rate being 0.0016%. No malignant virus carrier has occurred in the country since August 2022. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, in response to the quarantine information requests from the international community, North Korea disclosed only the number of fever patients. The report’s figure of 4.7 million fever carriers matches the number North Korea presented around August 2022.

International media have also noted North Korea’s claimed COVID-19 fatality rate. In South Korea, which recorded a high vaccination rate, the COVID-19 fatality rate was 0.12% in August 2022, while North Korea announced a rate that was one-seventy-fifth of that amount.

North Korea lacks adequately equipped intensive care units in hospitals and has not received any COVID-19 treatments or vaccines. During that time, outlets like the UK’s Guardian and BBC pointed out that North Korea’s healthcare system is among the worst in the world, stating that many experts hardly trust North Korea’s mortality statistics.