North Korea's official newspaper the Rodong Sinmun does, in its own opaque way, acknowledge the Covid outbreak. Typically what's seen as important is not the bald fact of the outbreak, but the response of the authorities. News is only news through the filter of official pronouncements.
The Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) on May 12 decided as follows in connection with the grave situation such as the inroads of stealth Omicron variant into the country amid the ever-worsening worldwide public health crisis:
The state epidemic prevention work shall be switched over to the maximum emergency epidemic prevention system.
The state emergency epidemic prevention command shall take practical measures to switch over from the state epidemic prevention work to the maximum emergency epidemic prevention system and strictly control and command the overall epidemic prevention work of the country.
The Party, administrative and economic organs, public and state security and armed forces organs and all other organs and sectors shall unconditionally accept the instructions of the state emergency epidemic prevention headquarters as the demand of the Party Central Committee and thoroughly implement them, and establish the work system in an orderly way in keeping with switching over to the maximum emergency epidemic prevention system so that the slightest deviations are not be revealed in the overall state work.
No word as to what that might actually mean for the general population. The maximum emergency epidemic prevention system? Whatever it is - at a guess, everyone stays home or risks serious punishment - it doesn't sound at all good. Lockdown with a vengeance.
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