Is Pyongyang accepting aid?
South Korea offers North Korea corona vaccine
05/13/2022, 11:08 am
So far largely spared, the corona pandemic is now hitting the isolated North Korea with all its might. South Korea wants to help – Seoul promises talks with its conflict neighbors about vaccine deliveries. So far, however, he has rejected any international pandemic aid.
South Korea wants to help its isolated neighbor North Korea in its efforts to get the first official corona outbreak under control. President Yoon Suk Yeol is offering North Korea to deliver corona vaccines and other medical supplies, the presidential office in Seoul said. A spokesman for Yoon expressed his hope of being able to discuss details of aid with North Korea. The number of suspected corona cases in North Korea seems to have increased explosively due to a massive outbreak.
At first it was unclear whether North Korea had asked for help and whether the two countries had already made contact. The situation on the Korean peninsula is currently tense after a series of ballistic missile tests by North Korea. These are usually surface-to-surface missiles that can carry a nuclear warhead.
North Korea reported its first death after contracting the coronavirus on Friday. Since the end of April, six people have died with a fever that, for reasons that are still unclear, has spread quickly across the country, the state media reported. The omicron subvariant BA.2 was found in one of the victims. About 187,800 people have been isolated and are now being treated, it said.
Unlike in neighboring countries, hardly any of North Korea’s 25 million inhabitants have been vaccinated against the corona virus. North Korea had so far rejected vaccine offers from the World Health Organization (WHO), China and Russia.
Ruler Kim Jong-un ordered a nationwide lockdown. According to KCNA reports, he explained that there appears to be a weakness in the epidemic prevention system that has already been set up. Another report by the state news agency said health authorities were trying to organize testing and treatment systems and stepping up disinfection measures.