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North Korea kicked off its Covid vaccine program — though it’s only for soldiers right now
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Broadcasters call the vaccines an “immortal love potion” from Kim Jong Un.
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As of Thursday, North Korea has registered more than 3.2 million cases of “fever” and 69 deaths.
Covid-stricken North Korea has finally begun its vaccination program — calling the COVID-19 jabs an “immortal love potion” by their leader Kim Jong Un, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported.
However, according to the US-funded nonprofit media, the vaccines have so far been reserved only for soldiers working on national construction projects.
Two anonymous sources provided details to RFA describing how vehicles could be broadcast over speakers at vaccination sites, stressing that the vaccines were a “merciful gift” from Kim.
“They are playing loud political propaganda messages as the soldiers are injected with the vaccines from China,” an unnamed government official told the outlet.
“They call it an inoculation of love of the highest dignity,” he said, using the honorific for the country’s leader.
Another source, a resident, appeared to confirm this to RFA. “A vehicle that appeared at the vaccination site loudly proclaimed the magnificence of the general secretary, who prepared for them the ‘immortal love potion,’ she said.
The resident told RFA that the vaccines were imported from China, but did not specify the type of vaccine.
The hermit kingdom confirmed its first-ever Covid case on May 12, and Kim Jong Un initially criticized its officials for the country’s poor response to the virus. In the days since, however, North Korean state media has maintained the “much-discussed claim” that the Covid wave is abating, according to the Associated Press.
Experts feared that the Covid outbreak would turn into a major disaster, given that the country was completely unvaccinated. Last September, North Korea turned down nearly three million doses of Sinovac from China, asking it to be sent to countries that needed it more.
Earlier this week, US President Joe Biden said North Korea has not responded to a US offer of Covid vaccines, according to the BBC.
As a vaccine program appears to have begun in the country, some soldiers have seen some soldiers raise their hands to praise Kim, the resident told RFA.
But other citizens are unhappy that they have yet to get the shot, she said. “People saw the scenes of the emotional soldiers singing, crying and yelling ‘Manse!’ but they watched without emotion,” she said.
Manse, which means 10,000 years in Korean, can be translated here as ‘long live Kim Jong Un’.
On Thursday, the total number of “feverish persons” in North Korea was 3.2 million and 69 people died, according to the state news agency KCNA. The country has yet to call this “fever” outbreak COVID-19, as poor testing capabilities have hampered its ability to diagnose cases, according to the BBC.
