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“Phantom illness” devastates North Korea

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North Korea is the number one country on Open Doors' world watch list of Christian persecution given that Christians have to hide their religion to avoid prison or the death penalty. In this country, the existence of the coronavirus is not accepted by the government.

 

President Kim Jong-Un firmly denies the presence of COVID-19 in his country, even though many people die from this pandemic. The North Koreans call this epidemic the “Phantom illness”, which kills the people suddenly. As the State does not recognise the pandemic in the country, there is no possibility to undergo a COVID-test or to develop a vaccine.

An Open Doors contact, working in a refugee camp near the Korean border reported: “The people get ill without noticing it. Most of them are originally suffering from malnutrition. Then all of a sudden, they die quickly. Some of them fall dead on the streets.”

“The central government and the local authorities are afraid of the propagation of the illness, but the only thing they can do is to impose lockdowns.”

However, the Korean president officially does not acknowledge the presence of the pandemic in the country. He apparently does not feel safe, considering that he left the town of Pyongyang to reduce the risk of being infected.

Source: Portas Abertas

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