London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Tuesday, Oct 07, 2025

COVID-19: Kim Jong Un warns of 'great turmoil' for North Korea as country announces 21 'fever-related' deaths

COVID-19: Kim Jong Un warns of 'great turmoil' for North Korea as country announces 21 'fever-related' deaths

The outbreak could have very serious consequences as the 26 million population is believed to be mostly unvaccinated.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un says a "great turmoil" has befallen his country after 21 daily deaths were reported - possibly from COVID-19.

State news agency KCNA said 280,810 people were in quarantine and 27 had died since a fever of unidentified origins started to be reported in the country in late April.

On Thursday, Pyongyang announced one death from coronavirus - as Mr Kim ordered a strict national lockdown.

KCNA did not say whether any of the new deaths were because of coronavirus.

"The spread of the malignant epidemic is a great turmoil to fall on our country since the founding," Mr Kim told an emergency meeting of the ruling Workers' Party, KCNA said.

Since late April, 524,440 people have shown signs of fever, including 174,440 new cases on Friday, KCNA added.

The crisis has been caused by the incompetence and irresponsibility of party organisations, Mr Kim reportedly said, while the country must have faith in its ability to overcome the crisis in the shortest possible period.

Aidan Foster-Carter, a North Korea expert from Leeds University, said it was striking that Mr Kim appeared to be describing the situation as the worst disaster since the foundation of the republic.

Mr Foster-Carter told Sky News: "He may have a short memory - he's quite young.

"That (statement) would include the Korean War, in which four million people died, and the famine in the 1990s where we don't know quite how many died but it was in the hundreds of thousands."

He added: "They say the state is in turmoil. North Korea doesn't do turmoil - I don't think it knows how to do turmoil."

The tentative public admission of COVID infections highlights the potential for a major crisis in a country that has refused to accept international help with immunisation.

Mr Foster-Carter said the people of North Korea may be "wholly unvaccinated".

He continued: "North Korea is one of just two countries in the world - the other bring Eritrea, often called the North Korea of Africa - which hasn't vaccinated anybody, officially, as far as we know.

"People have been offering - China's been offering, the WHO, South Korea."

Outlining the scale of the problem, Mr Foster-Carter said: "Half the population is malnourished - comorbidities with things like TB is going to be a problem - I really don't quite know where it goes. I think (Kim) is going to have to ask for help.

"And I think maybe going public is the first step towards doing that."

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×