Where does North Korea stand?

[Frustratedlady]

Hasn't our intelligence been able to find out how many North Koreans have caught the virus? I had heard they had one, but took him out and shot him. I haven't seen any counts since then.

I realize the entire country has been socially distanced from the world, but South Korea had quite a number of victims and I would think that there would be some type of exposure.

[Nululu]

1. We'll never know

North Korea is shut tight.

Meanwhile South korea is doing well.

Taiwan is also doing well. They immediately banned export of medical gear. Everyone gets face masks. Schools are open, restaurants are open, massive testing and people positive for virus are self quarantined and their movement is tracked on their phones.

Sad that the US and Europe was so poorly prepared.

[catsudon]

2. north kores and Russia

are both very close to China

Taiwan is not close to China, but they know CCP very well.

so when they all closed the border immediately in the beginning. i knew this was serious.


we probably will never know the stats in NK, but we will know when it is safe when NK opens the border, rather than ccp telling you.

[Nululu]

3. Look at a map.

Taiwan is next to China. China claims that it owns Taiwan.

Both Taiwan and South Korea learned from their SARs outbreaks. We did not

[treestar]

4. NK might be able to avoid it

because they are shut off from the world.

I had been reading about St. Helena, a very remote island in the Atlantic, where Napoleon was exiled after Waterloo. They have no cases either. So if they keep new people off the island, they might get through it with none.

[ornotna]

5. Above the 38th parallel

Snark aside, we may never know the whole story.

[Frustratedlady]

6. I was basically wondering if anyone had heard of anymore shootings.

If I lived in N. Korea under their circumstances, I would almost consider it a blessing.

Those poor people don't have a chance.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

7. Not reporting on any sites I monitor but here's an article...

from just a few days ago that reviews their situation:

COVID-19: Delayed by sanctions, border checks, first medical aid trickles into North Korea
20 Mar 2020 03:24PM

Link: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/covid19-first-coronavirus-medical-aid-north-korea-12560128

(snips)

SEOUL: The first shipments of international medical aid are due to arrive at North Korea's borders this week to shore up its defences against the coronavirus, but strict border controls could mean the stream of supplies remains a trickle. Some aid organisations had to get emergency sanction exemptions from the United Nations to clear the way for the shipments and are now navigating North Korea's border controls imposed in a bid to shut out the virus.

North Korea has not reported any confirmed cases of the coronavirus that was first detected in China late last year, though a top US military official said last week he is "fairly certain" there were infections in North Korea.

The North's state-run KCNA news agency reported on Friday (Mar 20) that all but three foreigners who had been in quarantine had been released after "medical monitoring and examination". It ordered all foreigners to spend 30 days in quarantine.

North Korea is especially vulnerable to a coronavirus outbreak as its health system lacks resources, in part, aid organisations say, because of international sanctions imposed over its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes.

Good info on other Asian nations on that site as well: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news

Like Putin and Trump, if Kim's mouth is moving, he's lying.

KY

[Frustratedlady]

9. Thank you. Very informative.

[Igel]

10. There's all kind of aid flowing in all sorts of ways.

We hear about what matters to the presenters. We pick our presenters by our biases, they pick their news by their biases.

Cuba aid to Italy? Matters to whose who focus on Cuba. If the US sent aid, nobody would care.

Russian aid to Italy? Matters to fewer.

US aid to China? It happened. Nobody noticed. Of course it happened the same day that Xi said no aid had been sent--in fact, the plane took off a few minutes after he made the last-minute announcement.

Chinese aid to the US? That's big news.

US aid to Italy? No clue. So unimportant and feeds nobody's narrative that last I looked, I found no evidence pro or con.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

11. Do we have a government site that tracks where US aid is going?

Or, perhaps an independent observer organization that does that?

That's one thing I've never really searched for, I will admit. This crisis has probably thrown everything aid-related into chaos.

Trump's State Dept. is so secretive and elusive, they may be keeping it under wraps.

[tblue37]

8. Not to mention a porous border with China. nt