--- title: "Deadly Outbreak COVID-19 Reportedly Spreads to North Korea" description: "South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo reported today that the deadly coronavirus COVID-19 is spreading in North Korea. North Korea hasn’t officially acknowledged any deaths, but experts are suspicious that the reclusive, totalitarian country — which shares a border with China, where the outbreak began — would be able to avoid a local health crisis because […]" date: "2020-02-13" modified: "2020-02-13" authors: - name: "Jon Christian" job_title: "Executive Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc" url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/deadly-outbreak-covid-19-north-korea" categories: - "Developments" - "Health & Medicine" tags: - "coronavirus" - "covid19" - "health" - "north korea" --- # Deadly Outbreak COVID-19 Reportedly Spreads to North Korea ![South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo reported today that the deadly coronavirus COVID-19 is spreading in North Korea.]() *\Image: CDC/Victor Tangermann\* South Korean newspaper *Chosun* *Ilbo* [reported today]() that the deadly coronavirus COVID-19 is spreading in North Korea. The development is grim for several reasons. For one thing, Pyongyang's crackdown and quarantine protocol, given their abysmal human rights record, could be brutal. For another, public health experts have been [publicly warning]() for weeks about how bad the outbreak could become in countries less prosperous countries. North Korea hasn't officially acknowledged any deaths, but experts are suspicious that the reclusive, totalitarian country — which shares a border with China, where the outbreak began — would be able to avoid a local health crisis because of the virus. "There is no way that North Korea is not being impacted by the coronavirus — they are clearly lying as they don’t want to show any weakness or that there is any threat to the regime," said director of Korean Studies at the Center for National Interest Harry Kazianis, in [an interview]() with *Fox News*. Several weeks ago, the *Wall Street Journal* [reported that]() North Korea's response to the outbreak had been to double down on its isolation, blocking even the hermit kingdom's close ally China from travel and trade. There's no question, though, that North Korea is taking the outbreak seriously — albeit with a characteristic brutality. It [reportedly executed]() an official this week, for instance, because he violated its quarantine by visiting a public bath after a trip to China. Other official responses have been — as is also often the case with North Korea — straight-up puzzling. A North Korean state publication [claimed this week](), for instance, that the common plant root burdock could cure the virus. And South Korean publication *Daily NK*, which specializes in investigative journalism about North Korea, [reported earlier this week]() that authorities there had made cremation mandatory, nominally to prevent infection after death. ## Author I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()