Joe Biden says US ready to offer COVID vaccines to North Korea amid virus outbreak

The United States has offered to provide North Korea coronavirus vaccines as a fresh COVID-19 wave wreaks havoc on the country. According to a TASS report, a similar proposal has also been given to China. Notably, the proposal comes at a time when Joe Biden is on a trip to Asia for the first time after taking office as US President. 

Addressing a joint press conference following a meeting in Seoul with the President of South Korea, Yoon Seok-youl, Biden said, “We have offered vaccines to North Korea and also to China.” However, the US President did not clarify which company's vaccines he was referring to, TASS reported.  

On May 12, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported the very first coronavirus infection in North Korea, which emerged over two years after the COVID outbreak started. Following that, a meeting of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea was called, and Kim Jong-un, the supreme leader of the nation, was present. He ordered the implementation of lockdowns in all cities and counties across the country. 

Kim had also criticised health officials and ordered the nation's army to help with drug delivery. According to official media, North Korea's leader had instructed the military to stabilise COVID-19 medical distribution in the capital, Pyongyang. 

North Korea documented around 220,000 additional cases with feverish symptoms

Meanwhile, even as the North Korean leader claimed progress in curbing the transmission of COVID-19 among the nation's 26 million unvaccinated inhabitants, on May 21, the country's health ministry documented around 220,000 additional individuals with feverish symptoms. Fears of catastrophic disasters have been raised in the impoverished country, which has one of the world's worst health-care systems and a high tolerance for human suffering, as per media reports. 

According to an NK News report, Kim Jong-un said on May 21 that the country had "made positive progress" in combatting the virus as a result of the party's leadership and the nation's socialist system. Nonetheless, he said that there are still significant "issues" with the national approach. Apart from this, analysts believe North Korea is almost probably misinterpreting the true number of the virus outbreak, including a surprisingly low death toll, in order to cushion Kim's political blow as he navigates the most difficult era of his decade-long leadership. 

Approximately 219,030 North Koreans with fever-like symptoms were identified in the 24 hours leading up to 6 p.m. on May 20, according to the KCNA, which credited the number to the government's anti-virus headquarters. North Korea says that almost 2.4 million people have been ill and 66 have died since an unexplained fever began spreading fast in late April, although the nation has only been able to determine a portion of those cases as COVID-19 because of the lack of testing materials. 

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