There's now suspicion that North Korea is underreporting deaths to soften the blow for leader Kim Jong-un. 9News
The country's anti-virus headquarters said 62 people have died and more than 1.7 million have fallen ill amid a rapid spread of fever since late April.North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, centre, attends a meeting of ruling party Workers' Labor Party of Korea in Pyongyang.
The pandemic has further damaged an economy already broken by mismanagement and US-led sanctions over Kim's nuclear weapons and missiles development. Kim's comments came days after he ripped officials over how they were handling the distribution of medicine released from state reserves and mobilized his army to help transport the supplies to pharmacies in capital Pyongyang, which were made open 24 hours to deal with the crisis.
It's unclear whether the North's admission of a COVID-19 outbreak communicates a willingness to accept outside help. The North has so far ignored rival South Korea's offer to provide vaccines, medicine and health personnel, but experts say the North may be more willing to accept help from its main ally China.
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