North Korea First Acknowledges Omicron, Is Yoon Government Considering Humanitarian Aid?

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo In-ho] North Korea has acknowledged the occurrence of COVID-19 infections for the first time.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Kim Jong-un, General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea, declared the occurrence of COVID-19 infections as the nation's most serious emergency. The Yoon Seok-yeol administration is reportedly considering humanitarian aid such as providing quarantine supplies. Attention is focused on the possibility of dialogue with North Korea through humanitarian support.

North Korea's Korean Central News Agency reported on the 12th that the 8th Political Bureau meeting of the 8th Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea was convened at the Party Central Committee headquarters due to the occurrence of COVID-19 infections.

The agency stated, "A national-level most serious emergency has occurred, causing a breach in our emergency quarantine front that has been firmly maintained for two years and three months since February 2020."

It added, "As a result of analyzing the genetic sequence of a specimen collected on the 8th from an organization in the capital, it was concluded to match the Omicron variant virus." This is the first time North Korea, which had claimed there were no confirmed COVID-19 cases, has admitted to infections.

The fact that General Secretary Kim attended the Political Bureau meeting that day directly reflects the seriousness of the COVID-19 infection situation.

Kim instructed, "All cities and counties nationwide must thoroughly lock down their areas and organize work and production activities in a sealed state by business units, production units, and living units to completely block the transmission space of the malignant virus without any gaps."

Since North Korea, which had denied any COVID-19 infections, has now acknowledged the occurrence of infections for the first time, attention is focused on the possibility of government-level humanitarian aid.

A presidential office official, when asked about medical and quarantine support for North Korea, said, "President Yoon is believed to hold the view that humanitarian aid is an exception," adding, "Since the exact government position has not been decided, please wait and see."

A diplomatic expert said, "Although the Yoon administration is taking a hardline stance toward North Korea, the possibility of dialogue through humanitarian aid remains open. However, since North Korea still has a high possibility of nuclear tests, a change in the situation will not be easy." North Korea has acknowledged the occurrence of COVID-19 infections for the first time.

Minister of Unification nominee Kwon Young-se attended the confirmation hearing held at the National Assembly on the 12th and responded to questions from lawmakers. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

Meanwhile, on the same day, nominee for Minister of Unification Kwon Young-se said during the confirmation hearing, regarding the possibility of inter-Korean dialogue, "It is necessary to normalize the severed inter-Korean relations," and added, "We will keep the door to dialogue open and create conditions for dialogue with a pragmatic approach."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.