Mr Kim is one of the few North Koreans who can describe what happened there during the pandemic after fleeing his country. Their story highlights the massive repression and economic and nutritional degradation that Covid brought and human rights organizations condemn it. Kim vividly remembers when coronavirus restrictions began in his border province of South Hwanghae (southwest) on May 13, 2021, giving only his last name in an interview with EFE to protect his relatives on both sides of the border Had agreed to give.
For the Reason
Two plainclothes police officers, who do not leave his side, confirm that he is a potential target for the regime due to the exclusivity of his testimony; Between 2020 and 2023, only a handful managed to flee from the north to the south, due to strict border closures due to Covid and imposed by China, a transit country for most deserters. There were strict restrictions.
Kim talks about neighbors starving to death due to shortages caused by health restrictions and business blockades, or acquaintances being killed for consuming South Korean music after ideological laws were tightened during that triennium. Are.
By May 13, the regime seemed to downplay Covid, because in suspected cases – the country lacks testing until 2022 – the defector says, doctors diagnosed “the common cold and recommended isolation just in case.” “
In that May wave, in which, in Kim’s opinion, “six out of ten” in his area were infected, those who fell ill had to be treated without medicine because “they ordered all the pharmacies to close”, Due to which the price of aspirin increased. In the black market it will be multiplied by 40. By the time another wave arrived two months later – with authorities providing medicine and even food – tighter restrictions were already a reality.
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(TagstoTranslate)North Korea(T)Kim Jong-un