North Korea: Kim Jong Un attends large funeral amid COVID-19 worry

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un carries the casket during the state funeral for Marshal of the Korean People鈥檚 Army Hyon Chol Hae in Pyongyang on May 22, 2022. (KCNA via Reuters)
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  • Kim often arranges big funerals for late senior officials loyal to his ruling family
  • State media said Monday that 2.8 million people have fallen ill due to an unidentified fever

SEOUL: A huge number of North Koreans including leader Kim Jong Un attended a funeral for a top official, state media reported Monday, as the country maintained the much-disputed claim that its suspected coronavirus outbreak is subsiding.
Since admitting earlier this month to an outbreak of the highly contagious omicron variant, North Korea has only stated how many people have fevers daily and identified just a fraction of the cases as COVID-19. Its state media said Monday that 2.8 million people have fallen ill due to an unidentified fever but only 68 of them died since late April, an extremely low fatality rate if the illness is COVID-19 as suspected.
North Korea has limited testing capability for that many sick people, but some experts say it is also likely underreporting mortalities to protect Kim from political damage.
The official Korean Central News Agency said Kim attended the funeral Sunday of Hyon Chol Hae, a Korean People鈥檚 Army marshal who played a key role in grooming him as the country鈥檚 next leader before Kim鈥檚 father, Kim Jong Il, died in late 2011.
In what was one of the country鈥檚 biggest state funerals since his father鈥檚 death, a bare-faced Kim Jong Un carried Hyon鈥檚 coffin with other top officials who wore masks before he threw earth to his grave with his hands at the national cemetery. Kim and hundreds of masked soldiers and officials also deeply bowed before Hyon鈥檚 grave, state TV footage showed.
State TV earlier showed thousands of other masked soldiers clad in olive-green uniforms gathered at a Pyongyang plaza taking off their hats and paying a silent tribute before a funeral limousine carrying Hyon鈥檚 body left for the cemetery. KCNA said 鈥渁 great many鈥� soldiers and citizens also turned out along streets to express their condolences.
Kim often arranges big funerals for late senior officials loyal to his ruling family and shows a human side in a possible bid to draw the support of the country鈥檚 ruling elite and boost internal unity.
KCNA quoted Kim as saying that 鈥渢he name of Hyon Chol Hae would be always remembered along with the august name of Kim Jong Il.鈥� He wept when he visited a mourning station established for Hyon last week.
During Sunday鈥檚 funeral, most people, except for Kim Jong Un and honor guards, wore masks. The Norths鈥� ongoing outbreak was likely caused by the April 25 military parade and related events that drew large crowds of people who wore no masks.
North Korea maintains a nationwide lockdown and other stringent rules to curb the virus outbreak. Region-to-region movement is banned, but key agricultural, economic and other industrial activities were continuing in an apparent effort to minimize harm to the country鈥檚 already moribund economy.
KCNA said Monday that 167,650 new fever cases had been detected in the past 24-hour period, a notable drop from the peak of about 390,000 reported about one week ago. It said one more person died and that the fever鈥檚 fatality rate was 0.002 percent.
鈥淎ll the people of (North Korea) maintain the current favorable turn in the anti-epidemic campaign with maximum awareness, in response to the call of the party central committee for defending their precious life and future with confidence in sure victory and redoubled great efforts,鈥� KCNA said.
Experts question the North鈥檚 tally, given North Korea鈥檚 26 million people are mostly unvaccinated and about 40 percent are reportedly undernourished. The public health care system is almost broken and chronically short of medicine and supplies. In South Korea, where most of its 52 million people are fully vaccinated, the fatality rate of COVID-19 was 0.13 percent as of Monday.