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A defector allegedly infected with COVID-19 who recently crossed over the inter-Korean border had turned himself in to Kaesong Ministry of State Security (MSS) officials several days after arriving in the city and is now being confined at a local MSS compound, Daily NK has learned.
A source in North Korea told Daily NK yesterday that the man had stayed at a friend’s house in Kaesong for “several days” before turning himself in.
“Soon after he was arrested by MSS agents in Kaesong, his case was reported to the MSS [in Pyongyang] and word even reached the Supreme Leader [North Korean leader Kim Jong Un],” the source said.
According to the source, the Kaesong MSS officials took the man to a hospital in the city immediately after his arrest to conduct blood and urine tests, an X-ray, and other tests. The test results were sent to the Central Anti-epidemic Committee and even reported to Kim Jong Un.
Typically, any defector who returns to North Korea – regardless of how they entered the country – is taken into custody by the MSS in Pyongyang and interrogated at a “special” detention center.
In this case, MSS officials decided to isolate the man for 30 days in Kaesong to monitor his health because he was already suspected of having contracted COVID-19, according to the source.
The man, who is referred to in state media as a “runaway,” is now undergoing a “first-round” of interrogations in an isolated room connected to the interrogation room at the Kaesong MSS compound, the source said.
“The runaway to South Korea had a fever, but [the authorities believe] it wasn’t due to the virus [COVID-19]. [They] believe that he may have caught a cold while crossing the border and have decided to isolate him and monitor [his health],” explained the source.
So they don't really believe the man has Covid-19, but he's a useful propaganda tool nonetheless.
It is possible that North Korean authorities chose to alert the entire population through Korean Central TV (KCTV) about the returnee’s suspected COVID-19 infection to increase vigilance toward the disease and justify the ramping up of surveillance and crackdowns near the country’s borders.
Some within North Korea think that the country’s leadership is simply trying to push responsibility for a COVID-19 outbreak on South Korea and turn people’s attention away from the country’s economic troubles, according to the source….
The source further reported that municipal officials in Kaesong, which is now under a state of emergency, have been ordered to completely lock down the city until additional orders by the communist party are handed down, and to also cancel any permits for travel in and out of the city.
The parallel between the poison of Covid-19 coming to the pure North from the South, and the danger of the minds of North Koreans being infected by poisonous information from the South – always a concern – is perfectly suited to the North's propaganda. They may not be familiar with Susan Sontag's "Illness as Metaphor" in Pyongyang, but they've got the general idea.
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