North Korea: Breaking through isolation

Communist and post-Communist oppression North Korea | 25 August 2022

The North Korean regime claimed that COVID-19 was being spread by balloons crossing the border with contaminated leaflets and medical aid. In a separate development, the Russian ambassador to North Korea invited the country to send workers for rebuilding parts of Ukraine.

According to BBC News reporting on 11 August 2022, Kim Jong Un’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, announced that her brother had been infected with COVID-19, blaming South Korea. In a separate development, the Russian ambassador to North Korea invited the country to send workers helping to rebuild parts of Ukraine, as reported by DailyNK on 5 August 2022.

World Watch Research analyst Thomas Muller comments: “Even though experts say that a COVID infection through contact with an object’s surface is highly unlikely, the North Korean regime claimed that the virus has been spread by balloons crossing the border with contaminated leaflets and medical aid. Kim Yo Jong also took the opportunity to claim victory in the country’s battle against COVID and to praise her brother for tirelessly working for the people despite suffering from a high fever. These statements may indicate that further hostilities towards South Korea are being planned.”

Thomas Muller continues: “The building work offered by the Russian ambassador is for parts of Donetsk and Luhansk in Ukraine, which are not internationally recognized as belonging to Russia. According to the report by DailyNK, North Korea has already selected workers for the task, not least because the country very much needs the foreign currency. This is all the more noteworthy since North Korea has never been at the forefront of taking sides. It is now only the second country after Syria to recognize the so-called ‘Peoples republics of Donetsk and Luhansk’. As a commentary in NK News on 18 August 2022 stated, this smacks of lackeyism; from the North Korean regime’s current point of view Russia and China can do no wrong. It seems that North Korea’s leader has seen the geopolitics around him changing and has drawn his conclusion.”