North Korea blames balloons from South for COVID
时间:2024-09-22 01:22:07 来源:American news
In this Oct. 10, 2014, file photo, activists promoting human rights for North Korea release balloons carrying leaflets condemning the North's regime in Paju, a South Korean city near the border with the North. North Korea on Friday blamed "alien things coming by wind" from South Korea for its outbreak of COVID-19. AP-Yonhap |
Pyongyang always finds something to blame for faults, expert says
By Jung Min-ho
North Korea has blamed balloons from South Korea for its COVID-19 outbreak, claiming that two people in the border area started showing symptoms after coming into contact with "alien things coming by wind" from the South.
Citing health authorities, the Korean Central News Agency, Pyongyang's official mouthpiece, reported Friday that a soldier, 18, and a child, 5, at Ipho-ri in Kumgang County were its first official COVID-19 patients. The broadcaster did not specify what they touched but, in a warning, it added that people living in border areas should be cautious of balloons and "the things attached to the balloons."
The warning is in line with North Korea's previous claims that its people should be careful of the virus carried by anti-regime leaflets, "other climate phenomena and balloons" from the South, pointing its finger at South Korea's human rights activists who often send such materials across the border.
In the days that followed, the broadcaster said, a sharp increase in fever cases was reported in the area before the disease spread to the rest of the country.
A former doctor from North Korea said he had anticipated such a reaction from Pyongyang since the very beginning of the outbreak.
"North Korean leaders always look for something to blame for their faults," Choi Jung-hoon, a former infectious disease doctor from North Korea, told The Korea Times. "It turned out to be the balloons this time."
He believes that the Omicron variant first got into North Korea from China, as Pyongyang was preparing a massive military parade scheduled for April 25.
"For an event of such a scale, North Korea needs lots of things and it usually gets them from China. The variant probably entered the North, as many crossed that border to transport the equipment and products they needed," Choi said. "But North Korea cannot blame China, its most important ally. So it probably wrote scenarios to create a different story."
In South Korea, many activist groups promoting human rights for North Korea are led by defectors from the North. Most recently, Fighters for a Free North Korea, a human rights group, said it sent 20 big balloons carrying painkillers, vitamin pills and masks on June 28 across the western inter-Korean border.
Citing the assessment of health authorities in the South and other countries, the Ministry of Unification dismissed the North's COVID-19 source claims as nonsensical.
"We believe there is no possibility of COVID-19 transmissions to North Korea from leaflets sent from the South," Cha Duck-chul, a deputy spokesman for the ministry, said during a press briefing.
Meanwhile, the North's daily number of suspected new COVID-19 cases remained below 5,000 for the second consecutive day. More than 4,570 people showed symptoms of fever over a 24-hour period until 6 p.m. the previous day, according to the broadcaster.
So far, the total number of suspected COVID cases has reached 4.74 million, with more than 4.73 million recovered and at least 8,130 in treatment, it added.
After the daily fever count started showing a downward trend following peaking at over 392,920 on May 15, the Ministry of Unification said last month that the North could announce the end of the COVID-19 pandemic there soon.
But given that no country ― not even China ― makes such a claim, Park said he believes that North Korea will maintain for a while that "the virus is under control" without declaring that the outbreak is officially over.
相关内容
- ·What Ever Happened to Winamp?
- ·海尔馨厨和中粮合作新进展:共享大数据
- ·工信部发布29款不良手机软件 存恶意吸费等问题
- ·保障特殊孩子平等接受教育权利 促进全县基础教育均衡发展
- ·7 Reasons to Explore Boston’s Lesser
- ·白天领菜人挤人,晚上听歌肩并肩
- ·青岛市众创空间建设完成年任务近七成 投入运营69家
- ·先进装备亮相!第二十二届广东种业大会农机亮点抢先看
- ·Trump won't stop making a deceptive bird claim. Experts debunk it.
- ·道路提升工程有序推进 沿线避暑旅游依旧火热
- ·青岛企业进军VR领域 专业人才缺乏是最大短板
- ·青岛市众创空间建设完成年任务近七成 投入运营69家
- ·If aliens harnessed solar power, could we detect them? NASA investigated.
- ·青岛分行团委开展走进希望小学系列助学活动
- ·海尔深腔油烟机原创倒锥油网净吸无油烟
- ·平安产险推6000辆查勘车爱心送考 助考生一路畅行
最新内容
- ·Update your BIOS: Utilities from Top Motherboard Makers
- ·回乡创业助乡邻脱贫奔康
- ·涓浗骞冲畨鎼烘墜甯稿窞甯傛斂搴滄垚绔嬧€滀腑浠ュ垱鏂板彂灞曞熀閲戔€ 鎬昏妯?00浜縚涓浗灞变笢缃慱闈掑矝
- ·潮州李工坑村:百年古村蝶变,畲乡与凤齐飞
- ·What Ever Happened to Flickr?
- ·上半年规上工业增加值增长9.8% 工业经济迈向更高质量发展
- ·新国标将实施 海尔热水器能耗优势引领行业
- ·海尔全城搜索“老冰箱”可等值换新
- ·11 Telescopes Exploring The Magic of Space
- ·雅安市人民代表大会常务委员会任免名单
推荐内容
热点内容
- ·How much for Oasis tickets? Fans joke about splurging on reunion shows
- ·青岛部分银行落地分类管理账户 限额不同防盗刷
- ·听说旧家电突然身价飙升?为嘛?
- ·闈掑矝鑱旈€氬崌绾у厜缃戞収涓夊啘 鍔╁姏鍐滀笟淇℃伅鍖栧缓璁綺涓浗灞变笢缃慱闈掑矝
- ·DNC 2024 speech: Barack Obama and Michelle Obama have a superpower no other Democrat has.
- ·多轮驱动 构建“产业党建”新格局
- ·两位法国小伙多了位“中国妈妈”
- ·青岛分行团委开展走进希望小学系列助学活动
- ·Alcaraz vs. Van de Zandschulp 2024 livestream: Watch US Open for free
- ·高温天气外出 赤膊光膀失文明