N Korea declares ‘victory’ over Covid, says Kim had fever

North Korea’s Kim Jong Un declared a “glaring victory” over Covid-19 when his sister revealed he had fallen ill during the outbreak, which she blamed on Seoul, state media said on Thursday.

Ahead of a meeting of health workers and scientists, Kim announced a “victory… in the war against the vicious pandemic,” according to the official Korean Central News Agency.

The isolated country, which has maintained a rigid coronavirus lockdown since the pandemic began, confirmed an Omicron outbreak in the capital Pyongyang in May and activated a “maximum emergency epidemic prevention system.”

In case reports, North Korea speaks more of “fever patients” than “Covid patients”, apparently due to a lack of testing capacities.

According to state media, it has recorded nearly 4.8 million “fever” infections and just 74 deaths, out of an official fatality rate of 0.002 percent. No new cases have been reported since July 29.

This handling of the pandemic “is a miracle unprecedented in global public health history,” Kim said to thunderous applause, according to KCNA.

“The victory of our people is a historic event.”

Kim’s powerful sister, Kim Yo Jong, said the supreme leader himself was ill during the outbreak, according to another KCNA report.

Kim “suffered from a high fever during the days of this quarantine war, but couldn’t lie down for a moment when he thought about the people he was responsible for,” his sister said.

This is the first time North Korea has said its leader – whose health is being scrutinized by analysts with extraordinary scrutiny – has been infected with the coronavirus.

Yo Jong also claimed the country’s Covid-19 outbreak was caused by South Korea and warned of “retaliation”.

North Korea has previously said that “stranger things” near the border with the south caused the isolated country’s Covid outbreak, a claim Seoul has denied.

Despite a ban that went into effect in 2021, South Korean activists have been flying balloons carrying propaganda leaflets and US dollars across the border for years, a move Pyongyang has long protested.

Yo Jong said such actions are a “crime against humanity” and that Pyongyang is considering “a strong retaliatory response.”

Seoul’s unification ministry said Thursday North Korea repeated a “baseless claim” and regretted that Pyongyang made “rude and threatening remarks.”

Analysts said the victory declaration suggests North Korea is targeting other priorities “like boosting the economy or conducting a nuclear test,” said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul.

“Kim Yo Jong’s belligerent rhetoric is worrying because it will not only seek to blame South Korea for a Covid resurgence, but also seek to justify North Korea’s next military provocation,” he added.

Experts, including the World Health Organization, have long questioned Pyongyang’s Covid statistics and claims it has brought the outbreak under control.

The country has one of the worst healthcare systems in the world, with poorly equipped hospitals, few intensive care units and no drugs or vaccines to treat Covid-19, experts say.

South Korea – with its advanced healthcare and highly vaccinated population – has a 0.12 percent coronavirus fatality rate – significantly higher than that reported in the north, according to official figures.