North Korea carried out pre-event COVID-19 vaccinations of everyone who attended a major Korean Children’s Union congress late last year, Daily NK has learned.
Daily NK recently obtained written orders from the State Emergency Epidemic Prevention Headquarters issued ahead of the Korean Children’s Union’s Ninth Congress, which was held in December.
Issued on Dec. 4 and entitled “On Responsibly Carrying out Health Exams and Antibody Tests of Participants in the Ninth Congress of the Korean Children’s Union and Staff,” one of the orders calls for “health exams for participants in the Ninth Congress of the Korean Children’s Union and staff to ensure the event, as well as antibody tests on individuals who did not experience the infectious disease [COVID-19] in the past, while responsibly carrying out novel coronavirus vaccinations.”
The orders went on to say that “the Cabinet, Ministry of Public Health and the relevant emergency quarantine units and public health agencies must vaccinate participants in the event [including staff] who have not received COVID-19 vaccinations before. Accurately confirm if participants have received vaccinations or not while ensuring vaccination supplies and operational measures.”
This confirms that North Korea has imported COVID-19 vaccines and used them to prevent the spread of the virus during a large-scale event.
In another order issued three days later on Dec. 7 entitled “On Carrying out Novel Coronavirus Vaccinations on Participants of Predicted Meetings and the Congress of the Korean Children’s Union,” the authorities called for emergency measures between Dec. 7 and 9 to innoculate unvaccinated participants.
In an order issued Dec. 9 entitled “On Responsibility Carrying out Epidemiological Surveys and COVID-19 Vaccinations of the Korean Children’s Union Participants and Staff,” the authorities called for epidemiological surveys and — once again — vaccinations.
“Emergency quarantine units at every level must carry out COVID-19 vaccinations of all participants and staff of the Ninth Congress of the Korean Children’s Union, with no exceptions,” the Dec. 9 order said. “While performing epidemiological surveys, [units] must confirm the COVID-19 vaccination status [of participants and staff], and if they have not been vaccinated, they must unconditionally receive vaccinations by 17:00, Dec. 9 by working with vaccination command teams.
“Thorough measures must be taken regarding side effects that could appear after vaccinations. Emergency quarantine units at all levels must compile their vaccination situation and transmit it to the state emergency epidemic prevention information system by 18:00.”
All of this suggests that the authorities put a lot of attention into disease control efforts, carrying out an intensive week-long vaccination of congress participants.
THE AUTHORITIES ALSO CONDUCTED PCR TESTS
The documents recently obtained by Daily NK also suggest North Korea carried out PCR tests of congress participants.
An order issued Dec. 10 entitled “On Carrying out PCR Tests and Drafting Thorough Quarantine Measures for Participants and Staff of the Ninth Congress of the Korean Children’s Union” includes instructions to carry out five PCR tests on congress participants and staff between Dec. 11 and 18.
North Korea hosted the two-day Ninth Congress of the Korean Children’s Union on Dec. 26 and 27, after all these disease control measures had been taken.
North Korea also issued an order calling for “thorough quarantine measures” prior to an event attended by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un where Korean Children’s Union representatives received gifts.
According to an order issued on Dec. 16, North Korea called for all participants in the gift ceremony to be quarantined for five or more days prior to the gathering, receiving three or more PCR tests during that period. The order said if the tests results of the quarantined individuals came up negative, they should be selected as participants, with absolutely no contact allowed with outside individuals during transport from the quarantine site to the event’s venue.
North Korea held the gift-giving ceremony for the Korean Children’s Union representatives on Jan. 1, with participants posing for a commemorative photo with Kim Jong Un. The authorities appear to have taken additional disease control measures given that the participants had direct face-to-face contact with the country’s supreme leader.
Translated by David Black. Edited by Robert Lauler.
Daily NK works with a network of reporting partners who live inside North Korea and China. Their identities remain anonymous due to security concerns. More information about Daily NK’s reporting partner network and information gathering activities can be found on our FAQ page here.
Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
