{"id":47525,"date":"2021-01-22T14:16:31","date_gmt":"2021-01-22T05:16:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/?p=47525"},"modified":"2026-04-05T12:33:32","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T03:33:32","slug":"north-korea-begins-human-own-covid-19-vaccine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-korea-begins-human-own-covid-19-vaccine\/","title":{"rendered":"North Korea begins human testing of its own COVID-19 vaccine"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">North Korea has begun human testing of a COVID-19 vaccine the country is developing and the country&#8217;s vaccine developers are using manufacturing know-how stolen through \u201chacking activities\u201d conducted late last year, Daily NK learned from a source in the country yesterday.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Phase 1 and Phase 2 clinical trials have been completed so far, while Phase 3 clinical trials are currently underway on suspected COVID-19 patients, according to the source.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Biological Industry Research Center of Kim Il Sung University is reportedly handling major research on the vaccine development.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While North Korea still claims that the country has no confirmed COVID-19 cases, the source\u2019s report suggests that North Korean authorities are conducting vaccine tests on patients who are suffering from symptoms similar to COVID-19.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">North Korean authorities have recently created a new \u201chacking organization\u201d dedicated to stealing information on COVID-19, including vaccine development technology, based on the source&#8217;s account.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to the source, the new organization is called Bureau 325 and it operates under the Reconnaissance General Bureau while receiving direct orders from the Central Committee. The source claims that the group immediately reports major technology-related acquisitions to Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and that Kim and powerful party secretary Jo Yong Won are managing the group\u2019s activities themselves.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In fact, North Korean hacking activities against vaccine manufacturers have skyrocketed since the fourth quarter of last year. Mun Chong Hyun, the head of the ESTsecurity Security Response Center (ESRC), told Daily NK that there were continuous, concentrated North Korean hacking attacks on South Korean and overseas pharmaceutical companies from around early October of last year.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_45920\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-45920\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-45920\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/08\/\uc0ac\ubcf8-origin_\ubd81\ud55c\ucf54\ub85c\ub09819\ud3c9\uc591\uc2dc\ubc29\uc5ed\uc0ac\uc5c5\uc5d0\uc8fc\ub825\u2026\ubb3c\uc0d0\ud2c8\uc5c6\ub294\ubc29\uc5ed\uc9c4.jpg\" alt=\"movements\" width=\"800\" height=\"584\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/08\/\uc0ac\ubcf8-origin_\ubd81\ud55c\ucf54\ub85c\ub09819\ud3c9\uc591\uc2dc\ubc29\uc5ed\uc0ac\uc5c5\uc5d0\uc8fc\ub825\u2026\ubb3c\uc0d0\ud2c8\uc5c6\ub294\ubc29\uc5ed\uc9c4.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/08\/\uc0ac\ubcf8-origin_\ubd81\ud55c\ucf54\ub85c\ub09819\ud3c9\uc591\uc2dc\ubc29\uc5ed\uc0ac\uc5c5\uc5d0\uc8fc\ub825\u2026\ubb3c\uc0d0\ud2c8\uc5c6\ub294\ubc29\uc5ed\uc9c4-300x219.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/08\/\uc0ac\ubcf8-origin_\ubd81\ud55c\ucf54\ub85c\ub09819\ud3c9\uc591\uc2dc\ubc29\uc5ed\uc0ac\uc5c5\uc5d0\uc8fc\ub825\u2026\ubb3c\uc0d0\ud2c8\uc5c6\ub294\ubc29\uc5ed\uc9c4-768x561.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/08\/\uc0ac\ubcf8-origin_\ubd81\ud55c\ucf54\ub85c\ub09819\ud3c9\uc591\uc2dc\ubc29\uc5ed\uc0ac\uc5c5\uc5d0\uc8fc\ub825\u2026\ubb3c\uc0d0\ud2c8\uc5c6\ub294\ubc29\uc5ed\uc9c4-696x508.jpg 696w, https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/08\/\uc0ac\ubcf8-origin_\ubd81\ud55c\ucf54\ub85c\ub09819\ud3c9\uc591\uc2dc\ubc29\uc5ed\uc0ac\uc5c5\uc5d0\uc8fc\ub825\u2026\ubb3c\uc0d0\ud2c8\uc5c6\ub294\ubc29\uc5ed\uc9c4-575x420.jpg 575w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-45920\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Disease control officials in Pyongyang spraying buses with disinfectant. \/ Image: Rodong Sinmun<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cBecause of the nature of cyber attacks, it\u2019s hard to exactly confirm what kind of data North Korea stole, but it\u2019s possible that some data was taken,\u201d he told Daily NK.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">North Korea appears to have begun manufacturing vaccines by putting together the know-how it acquired through its hacking activities last year.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, not even North Korean authorities are certain how effective their independently developed vaccine is.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThey secured enough know-how through hacking, but they don\u2019t have the capacity to produce [vaccines]. But because the Supreme Leader [Kim Jong Un] directly ordered a vaccine to be independently developed, they have to show something in the way of results,\u201d the source told Daily NK.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This means North Korean authorities are conducting trials to manufacture a vaccine without confirming its medical efficacy and reporting the results up the chain of command.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">South Korean pharmaceutical companies have yet to fully acquire the know-how to produce COVID-19 vaccines, and international companies that have succeeded in developing vaccines have yet to resolve issues regarding the storage of their vaccines. Since COVID-19 vaccine development requires fairly exacting technical skills, it may not be easy for North Korea to manufacture its own vaccine in the short term given the country\u2019s overall circumstances.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Given that Kim Jong Un is directly involved in developing COVID-19 vaccines, and the fact that the authorities have recently created a new hacking group dedicated to COVID-19 vaccines, there is the possibility that North Korea\u2019s hacking activities aimed at vaccine manufacturers may increase in the future. <\/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\/%e5%8c%97-%ed%95%b4%ed%82%b9%ec%9c%bc%eb%a1%9c-%eb%b0%b1%ec%8b%a0-%ea%b8%b0%ec%88%a0-%ed%99%95%eb%b3%b4%ea%b0%90%ec%97%bc-%ec%9d%98%ec%8b%ac%ec%9e%90-%eb%8c%80%ec%83%81-%ec%9d%b8%ec%b2%b4\/\">Read in Korean<\/a><\/em><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>North Korea has begun human testing of a COVID-19 vaccine the country is developing and the country&#8217;s vaccine developers are using manufacturing know-how stolen through \u201chacking activities\u201d conducted late last year, Daily NK learned from a source in the country yesterday.\u00a0 Phase 1 and Phase 2 clinical trials have been completed so far, while Phase [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":128,"featured_media":45999,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wikipediapreview_detectlinks":true,"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47525","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>North Korea begins human testing of its own COVID-19 vaccine - 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\/north-korea-begins-human-own-covid-19-vaccine\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"North Korea begins human testing of its own COVID-19 vaccine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"North Korea has begun human testing of a COVID-19 vaccine the country is developing and the country&#8217;s vaccine developers are using manufacturing know-how stolen through \u201chacking activities\u201d conducted late last year, Daily NK learned from a source in the country yesterday.\u00a0 Phase 1 and Phase 2 clinical trials have been completed so far, while Phase [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-korea-begins-human-own-covid-19-vaccine\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-01-22T05:16:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-05T03:33:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/08\/origin_\ucf54\ub85c\ub09819\ubc1c\uc5f4\uac80\uc0ac\ud558\ub294\ubd81\ud55c\uc758\ub8cc\uc9c4.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"845\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"496\" \/>\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\\\/north-korea-begins-human-own-covid-19-vaccine\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/north-korea-begins-human-own-covid-19-vaccine\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Seulkee Jang\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/194958ce83d17408851c1d378fa83857\"},\"headline\":\"North Korea begins human testing of its own COVID-19 vaccine\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-01-22T05:16:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-05T03:33:32+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/north-korea-begins-human-own-covid-19-vaccine\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":573,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/north-korea-begins-human-own-covid-19-vaccine\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2020\\\/08\\\/origin_\ucf54\ub85c\ub09819\ubc1c\uc5f4\uac80\uc0ac\ud558\ub294\ubd81\ud55c\uc758\ub8cc\uc9c4.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/north-korea-begins-human-own-covid-19-vaccine\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/north-korea-begins-human-own-covid-19-vaccine\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/north-korea-begins-human-own-covid-19-vaccine\\\/\",\"name\":\"North Korea begins human testing of its own COVID-19 vaccine - North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/north-korea-begins-human-own-covid-19-vaccine\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/north-korea-begins-human-own-covid-19-vaccine\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2020\\\/08\\\/origin_\ucf54\ub85c\ub09819\ubc1c\uc5f4\uac80\uc0ac\ud558\ub294\ubd81\ud55c\uc758\ub8cc\uc9c4.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-01-22T05:16:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-05T03:33:32+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/north-korea-begins-human-own-covid-19-vaccine\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/north-korea-begins-human-own-covid-19-vaccine\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/north-korea-begins-human-own-covid-19-vaccine\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2020\\\/08\\\/origin_\ucf54\ub85c\ub09819\ubc1c\uc5f4\uac80\uc0ac\ud558\ub294\ubd81\ud55c\uc758\ub8cc\uc9c4.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2020\\\/08\\\/origin_\ucf54\ub85c\ub09819\ubc1c\uc5f4\uac80\uc0ac\ud558\ub294\ubd81\ud55c\uc758\ub8cc\uc9c4.jpg\",\"width\":845,\"height\":496,\"caption\":\"Disease control officials testing drivers for COVID-19 symptoms in Pyongyang's Manggyongdae District. (Rodong Sinmun)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/north-korea-begins-human-own-covid-19-vaccine\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"North Korea begins human testing of its own COVID-19 vaccine\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/\",\"name\":\"North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Daily NK English\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/top_logo@1x.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/top_logo@1x.png\",\"width\":272,\"height\":90,\"caption\":\"Daily NK English\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"description\":\"An independent online news organization based in Seoul, South Korea, reporting on internal North Korean affairs through a network of in-country sources and defector journalists. Part of the Unification Media Group (UMG) consortium.\",\"email\":\"dailynkenglish@uni-media.net\",\"telephone\":\"82-2-732-6998\",\"legalName\":\"DailyNK\",\"foundingDate\":\"2004-12-01\",\"numberOfEmployees\":{\"@type\":\"QuantitativeValue\",\"minValue\":\"1\",\"maxValue\":\"10\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/194958ce83d17408851c1d378fa83857\",\"name\":\"Seulkee Jang\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/9f4cf0f24b376077a2fcdab2e85c3584-150x150.webp\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/9f4cf0f24b376077a2fcdab2e85c3584-150x150.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/9f4cf0f24b376077a2fcdab2e85c3584-150x150.webp\",\"caption\":\"Seulkee Jang\"},\"description\":\"Seulkee Jang is one of Daily NK's full-time reporters and covers North Korean economic and diplomatic issues, including workers dispatched abroad. Jang has a M.A. in Sociology from University of North Korean Studies and a B.A. in Sociology from Yonsei University. She can be reached at skjang(at)uni-media.net.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/author\\\/jang-seul-gi\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"North Korea begins human testing of its own COVID-19 vaccine - North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-korea-begins-human-own-covid-19-vaccine\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"North Korea begins human testing of its own COVID-19 vaccine","og_description":"North Korea has begun human testing of a COVID-19 vaccine the country is developing and the country&#8217;s vaccine developers are using manufacturing know-how stolen through \u201chacking activities\u201d conducted late last year, Daily NK learned from a source in the country yesterday.\u00a0 Phase 1 and Phase 2 clinical trials have been completed so far, while Phase [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-korea-begins-human-own-covid-19-vaccine\/","og_site_name":"North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026","article_published_time":"2021-01-22T05:16:31+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-04-05T03:33:32+00:00","og_image":[{"width":845,"height":496,"url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/08\/origin_\ucf54\ub85c\ub09819\ubc1c\uc5f4\uac80\uc0ac\ud558\ub294\ubd81\ud55c\uc758\ub8cc\uc9c4.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Seulkee Jang","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Seulkee Jang","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-korea-begins-human-own-covid-19-vaccine\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-korea-begins-human-own-covid-19-vaccine\/"},"author":{"name":"Seulkee Jang","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#\/schema\/person\/194958ce83d17408851c1d378fa83857"},"headline":"North Korea begins human testing of its own COVID-19 vaccine","datePublished":"2021-01-22T05:16:31+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-05T03:33:32+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-korea-begins-human-own-covid-19-vaccine\/"},"wordCount":573,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-korea-begins-human-own-covid-19-vaccine\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/08\/origin_\ucf54\ub85c\ub09819\ubc1c\uc5f4\uac80\uc0ac\ud558\ub294\ubd81\ud55c\uc758\ub8cc\uc9c4.jpg","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-korea-begins-human-own-covid-19-vaccine\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-korea-begins-human-own-covid-19-vaccine\/","url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-korea-begins-human-own-covid-19-vaccine\/","name":"North Korea begins human testing of its own COVID-19 vaccine - North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-korea-begins-human-own-covid-19-vaccine\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-korea-begins-human-own-covid-19-vaccine\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/08\/origin_\ucf54\ub85c\ub09819\ubc1c\uc5f4\uac80\uc0ac\ud558\ub294\ubd81\ud55c\uc758\ub8cc\uc9c4.jpg","datePublished":"2021-01-22T05:16:31+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-05T03:33:32+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-korea-begins-human-own-covid-19-vaccine\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-korea-begins-human-own-covid-19-vaccine\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-korea-begins-human-own-covid-19-vaccine\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/08\/origin_\ucf54\ub85c\ub09819\ubc1c\uc5f4\uac80\uc0ac\ud558\ub294\ubd81\ud55c\uc758\ub8cc\uc9c4.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/08\/origin_\ucf54\ub85c\ub09819\ubc1c\uc5f4\uac80\uc0ac\ud558\ub294\ubd81\ud55c\uc758\ub8cc\uc9c4.jpg","width":845,"height":496,"caption":"Disease control officials testing drivers for COVID-19 symptoms in Pyongyang's Manggyongdae District. (Rodong Sinmun)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-korea-begins-human-own-covid-19-vaccine\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"North Korea begins human testing of its own COVID-19 vaccine"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/","name":"North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#organization","name":"Daily NK English","url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/top_logo@1x.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/top_logo@1x.png","width":272,"height":90,"caption":"Daily NK English"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"description":"An independent online news organization based in Seoul, South Korea, reporting on internal North Korean affairs through a network of in-country sources and defector journalists. Part of the Unification Media Group (UMG) consortium.","email":"dailynkenglish@uni-media.net","telephone":"82-2-732-6998","legalName":"DailyNK","foundingDate":"2004-12-01","numberOfEmployees":{"@type":"QuantitativeValue","minValue":"1","maxValue":"10"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#\/schema\/person\/194958ce83d17408851c1d378fa83857","name":"Seulkee Jang","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/02\/9f4cf0f24b376077a2fcdab2e85c3584-150x150.webp","url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/02\/9f4cf0f24b376077a2fcdab2e85c3584-150x150.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/02\/9f4cf0f24b376077a2fcdab2e85c3584-150x150.webp","caption":"Seulkee Jang"},"description":"Seulkee Jang is one of Daily NK's full-time reporters and covers North Korean economic and diplomatic issues, including workers dispatched abroad. Jang has a M.A. in Sociology from University of North Korean Studies and a B.A. in Sociology from Yonsei University. She can be reached at skjang(at)uni-media.net.","url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/author\/jang-seul-gi\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/128"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47525"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47525\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47529,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47525\/revisions\/47529"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}