I was quoted yesterday by Radio Free Asia’s Korean service about the DPRK Foreign Ministry statement issued March 19 that it is a land free of coronavirus cases.

Here is the original Korean:

북 외무성 ‘코로나19 전무’ 성명… 김정은 업적 홍보?

And below is a machine translation into English:

https://www.translatetheweb.com/?from=ab&to=en&a=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rfa.org%2Fkorean%2F

I provide my full email comments below. Many thanks to writer Albert Hong:

“While I don’t believe North Korea has zero cases of COVID-19, I do believe its political system of social control and existing capabilities of its medical system give it the ability to keep the actual number of cases under control and to monitor them well. As to why the DPRK made this announcement, it’s probably to say something that praises their regime rather than remaining silent at this time.

“Moreover, on management of the coronavirus threat, they are showcasing China’s praise of the DPRK’s handling of this situation, as well as pointing out the inability of nations like the U.S. and European countries to quickly and properly deal with this pandemic. It’s a way of saying Asian authoritarian regimes know how to successfully manage public health emergencies.”♦