{"id":47411,"date":"2021-01-11T13:06:27","date_gmt":"2021-01-11T04:06:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/?p=47411"},"modified":"2021-01-11T13:11:15","modified_gmt":"2021-01-11T04:11:15","slug":"party-congress-participants-told-to-take-off-masks-during-main-event","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/party-congress-participants-told-to-take-off-masks-during-main-event\/","title":{"rendered":"Party congress participants told to take off masks during main event"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The third day of the Eighth Party Congress commenced without participants wearing masks. Daily NK has learned, however, that even as the roughly 7,000 participants (according to the North Korean media) take part in indoor events with little in the way of social distancing, North Korean authorities are strictly checking whether they are wearing masks.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to a Daily NK source in Pyongyang on Friday, military uniform-clad agents of the Ministry of Social Security were checking whether the participants were wearing masks right up to the moment they entered the April 25 House of Culture, where the congress is being held. However, the participants must remove their masks just before they enter the venue.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In fact, if you look at photos of the congress in the Rodong Sinmun, none of the participants are wearing masks, and large numbers of people fill the venue with no empty seats.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, the authorities are reportedly forcing participants to wear masks after the events have ended. Basically &#8211; for appearance&#8217;s sake &#8211; the authorities are making people take off their masks only during the congress\u2019s main event, which is shown to the international community.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">North Korea\u2019s leadership reportedly weeded out and replaced participants who showed signs of fever prior to the start of the congress, and they considered making ordinary participants seated outside of the leadership podium wear masks during the main event as well.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ultimately, however, the authorities felt the image of participants wearing masks during the congress, North Korea\u2019s biggest political event, could harm national prestige and amplify the people\u2019s unease regarding COVID-19.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_47412\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-47412\" style=\"width: 741px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-47412\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/01\/origin_\ubaa8\ub450\uc9d1\uc911\u2026\ub2f9\ub300\ud68c3\uc77c\ucc28\ud68c\uc758\ucc38\uac00\ud55c\ubd81\ud55c\ub300\ud45c\uc790\ub4e4.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"741\" height=\"494\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/01\/origin_\ubaa8\ub450\uc9d1\uc911\u2026\ub2f9\ub300\ud68c3\uc77c\ucc28\ud68c\uc758\ucc38\uac00\ud55c\ubd81\ud55c\ub300\ud45c\uc790\ub4e4.jpg 741w, https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/01\/origin_\ubaa8\ub450\uc9d1\uc911\u2026\ub2f9\ub300\ud68c3\uc77c\ucc28\ud68c\uc758\ucc38\uac00\ud55c\ubd81\ud55c\ub300\ud45c\uc790\ub4e4-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/01\/origin_\ubaa8\ub450\uc9d1\uc911\u2026\ub2f9\ub300\ud68c3\uc77c\ucc28\ud68c\uc758\ucc38\uac00\ud55c\ubd81\ud55c\ub300\ud45c\uc790\ub4e4-696x464.jpg 696w, https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/01\/origin_\ubaa8\ub450\uc9d1\uc911\u2026\ub2f9\ub300\ud68c3\uc77c\ucc28\ud68c\uc758\ucc38\uac00\ud55c\ubd81\ud55c\ub300\ud45c\uc790\ub4e4-630x420.jpg 630w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 741px) 100vw, 741px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-47412\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rodong Sinmun reported on Jan. 8 that the third meeting of the Eighth Party Congress had commenced on Jan. 7. \/ Image: Rodong Sinmun<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Moreover, Daily NK\u2019s source said that with the authorities emphasizing the congress as an \u201cespecially noteworthy major event,\u201d there was little choice but for participants to take their masks. That is to say, there was no room for \u201cimperfections\u201d since the authorities must use the archival film footage of the event for years to come.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The source said that with the international community &#8211; including South Korea and the United States &#8211; keeping a close eye on the congress, the decision to have everyone remove their masks reflected the need to show off to the world how well the ruling Workers\u2019 Party of Korea is doing in handling the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The number of spectators at the event was reportedly larger compared to past events. According to North Korean media reports, there were 2,000 spectators at the latest congress, as opposed to the 1,387 who took part in the seventh congress in May 2016.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are reportedly rumors in the country that the authorities pushed ahead with the \u201cno mask\u201d congress because North Korean leader Kim needed to be able to read the expressions and moods of the participants.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are also rumors that the authorities took the measure because they felt wearing masks in front of Kim would \u201cdamage his authority.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Another Daily NK source confirmed this, saying that the leadership would deem it \u201cunforgettable\u201d if anyone was to cover one\u2019s face at an event Kim was attending. \u201cIt\u2019s reactionary to cover your face with a mask or hat unless given special permission by the Supreme Leader,\u201d he noted.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">North Korean officials have worn masks during on-site guidance visits by Kim, but the source said situation surrounding the congress \u201cis different.\u201d Participants could take their masks during the congress \u201cbecause the preparatory committee thoroughly prepared, carrying out coronavirus tests,&#8221; he said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Meanwhile, even as North Korean authorities hold large-scale indoor events without masks, they have emphasized that ordinary citizens should comply with COVID-19 quarantine rules. On Friday, the Rodong Sinmun called the \u201cemergency anti-epidemic campaign\u201d a &#8220;critical revolutionary task&#8221; that should take first priority at all guard posts and workplaces as the country enters the new year.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"td-post-header\"><em>Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.<\/em><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"td-post-header\"><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/%ec%b2%a0%ec%a0%80%ed%95%9c-%eb%85%b8%eb%a7%88%ec%8a%a4%ed%81%ac-%ec%87%bc-8%ec%b0%a8-%e9%bb%a8%eb%8c%80%ed%9a%8c-%ed%96%89%ec%82%ac%ec%9e%a5-%ec%9e%85%ec%9e%a5-%ec%a7%81%ec%a0%84\/\">Read in Korean<\/a><\/em><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The third day of the Eighth Party Congress commenced without participants wearing masks. Daily NK has learned, however, that even as the roughly 7,000 participants (according to the North Korean media) take part in indoor events with little in the way of social distancing, North Korean authorities are strictly checking whether they are wearing masks. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":128,"featured_media":47412,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wikipediapreview_detectlinks":true,"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.7 (Yoast SEO v27.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Party congress participants told to take off masks during main event - North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/party-congress-participants-told-to-take-off-masks-during-main-event\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Party congress participants told to take off masks during main event\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The third day of the Eighth Party Congress commenced without participants wearing masks. Daily NK has learned, however, that even as the roughly 7,000 participants (according to the North Korean media) take part in indoor events with little in the way of social distancing, North Korean authorities are strictly checking whether they are wearing masks. [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/party-congress-participants-told-to-take-off-masks-during-main-event\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-01-11T04:06:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-01-11T04:11:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/01\/origin_\ubaa8\ub450\uc9d1\uc911\u2026\ub2f9\ub300\ud68c3\uc77c\ucc28\ud68c\uc758\ucc38\uac00\ud55c\ubd81\ud55c\ub300\ud45c\uc790\ub4e4.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"741\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"494\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Seulkee Jang\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Seulkee Jang\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/party-congress-participants-told-to-take-off-masks-during-main-event\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/party-congress-participants-told-to-take-off-masks-during-main-event\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Seulkee Jang\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/194958ce83d17408851c1d378fa83857\"},\"headline\":\"Party congress participants told to take off masks during main event\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-01-11T04:06:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-01-11T04:11:15+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/party-congress-participants-told-to-take-off-masks-during-main-event\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":677,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/party-congress-participants-told-to-take-off-masks-during-main-event\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2021\\\/01\\\/origin_\ubaa8\ub450\uc9d1\uc911\u2026\ub2f9\ub300\ud68c3\uc77c\ucc28\ud68c\uc758\ucc38\uac00\ud55c\ubd81\ud55c\ub300\ud45c\uc790\ub4e4.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/party-congress-participants-told-to-take-off-masks-during-main-event\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/party-congress-participants-told-to-take-off-masks-during-main-event\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/party-congress-participants-told-to-take-off-masks-during-main-event\\\/\",\"name\":\"Party congress participants told to take off masks during main event - 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Daily NK has learned, however, that even as the roughly 7,000 participants (according to the North Korean media) take part in indoor events with little in the way of social distancing, North Korean authorities are strictly checking whether they are wearing masks. 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