- [Narrator] The North Korean leader Kim Jong-un
has been busy since the country started
its first major battle
against a COVID-19 outbreak in May.
He's personally inspected pharmacies in Pyongyang.
Kim visited the country's Headquarters
for Epidemic Prevention,
and he's held numerous meetings
where he berated officials for failing
to prevent the public health crisis.
Pyongyang officially announced
its first locally transmitted case
more than two years into the pandemic
and since then, hundreds of thousands
of what North Korea calls fever cases
have been reported daily.
- This is really eye-opening
that Kim Jong-un would say it's the worst crisis
since the foundation of the country.
- [Narrator] Examining Kim's recent pandemic policies
and public service announcements help
to understand what resources are available
in the country, as well as what's lacking
as the regime attempts to stamp out the virus.
In the early days of the pandemic,
North Korea closed its borders,
including a shoot-on-sight order
for people attempting to cross it.
And it worked to keep the virus at bay.
But now with the surge in cases fueled
by the fast-spreading Omicron variant,
the country is taking new measures.
- The message has sort of been
to convince people that the leadership
is working very hard for them.
- [Narrator] One of the first acts
was to order the lockdown of major cities.
Still, Pyongyang has reported more than 60 deaths
and over three million fever cases.
- Case of fever,
that's essentially a euphemism for coronavirus.
They have very limited testing capacity.
The World Health Organization
has said since the start of the pandemic,
North Korea has tested about 64,000 people.
That works out at less than 100 a day.
- [Narrator] The lack of testing capacity
is one of the major challenges
in the country's battle against the virus.
- If you're trying to do a lockdown strategy,
you need to be testing people as well
to be able to tell when it's safe for people
to come out.
- [Narrator] With mass testing not an option,
the leader has looked for other measures
to tackle the crisis.
Kim has mobilized the military
to help ensure basic medical supplies
are available in the capital city
where the first cases were reported.
Crews donning hazmat suits
have been disinfecting streets, factories and stores.
- People in Pyongyang have been encouraged to wear masks.
We've even seen Kim Jong-un himself wearing two masks.
And we did go to the border area between South Korea
and North Korea, and we could see people walking around
on the North Korean side who were not wearing masks.
So the presence of masks seems
to be not complete across the country at least.
Perhaps the availability of masks is one reason for that.
- [Narrator] Kim's actions have also been accompanied
by public health segments on state television.
(host speaking in foreign language)
In this segment, a presenter explained
how to take painkillers like paracetamol for fevers.
- To our knowledge, they don't have supplies
of antiviral medicines, which treat COVID.
What they're looking at to treat these things
is sort of basic medicines
but if someone's got severe breathing difficulties,
it's obviously not sufficient.
- [Narrator] Another segment advised viewers
to wash hands regularly,
nurses to wear masks,
and that those with fever should isolate.
But one of the most effective ways
to combat the virus has been missing
from these public service announcements
and other COVID policies,
and that's to get vaccinated.
That's because there's no known vaccines available
in North Korea.
And the country has also rejected doses
from the World Health Organization
and South Korea.
But recently, it's reached out to one
of its closest allies for help.
- There have been flights by North Korean cargo planes
from China bringing in medical supplies,
quite secretly actually.
They haven't announced this.
I don't think they want to let their people know
that they're relying on another country
to provide supplies.
- [Narrator] Health experts say that without vaccines
and testing capacity,
North Korea risks being overwhelmed
by a health crisis not seen
since the country suffered a famine
that killed over a million people in the 1990s.
The population is particularly vulnerable
because of widespread malnutrition,
and the decrepit state of the country's medical system.
In rural areas, hospitals are reported to lack supplies
and some even operate without electricity.
- If the provinces and rural areas
are more badly affected,
which is where we see more malnutrition,
I would say that this is probably not going
to trouble the regime too much
because this is something that we saw in the past
during the famine of the 1990s
but if the casualty rate is very high
in the capital in Pyongyang,
that's potentially de-stabilizing
because that's where the leadership relies on the people
for their support in order to keep the Kim family
and Kim Jong-un specifically in power.
- [Narrator] But the pandemic isn't the only big task
on Kim's plate.
As he enters the second decade of his rule,
the regime faces sanctions
that have battered the country's economy
and it continues to move aggressively forward
with frequent weapons tests.
(booming sound)
- [Alastair] Those things require
a large amount of attention from the leadership.
Can they multitask?
That's the big question.
(dramatic music)