Mick Hartley

So, finally, North Korea is admitting to Covid cases:

North Korea on Thursday confirmed its first Covid-19 cases – a potential disaster for the reclusive impoverished nation which has repeatedly shunned international offers of vaccines.

The state-run Korean Central News Agency said tests from an unspecified number of people in the capital Pyongyang had revealed they were infected with the highly transmissible omicron variant.

“A serious situation has been created due to the introduction of a stealth mutant virus into our precincts,” KCNA said, reporting an emergency meeting of the ruling Korean Workers’ Party Politburo had been called to discuss prevention measures.

A sudden lockdown in the capital Pyongyang on Tuesday was the first sign that something could be amiss in a country that has previously claimed a perfect record in keeping out the virus – a claim that has been met with global scepticism.

Residents in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang were abruptly ordered indoors on Tuesday afternoon, multiple sources told NK News, with one citing an unspecified “national problem"

The edict reportedly triggered a sudden rush to get home and the authorities instructed citizens not to go outside their buildings. It is believed the orders were issued nationwide.

If China could shut down Shanghai in such draconian fashion, imagine what the North Korean authorities are going to do to Pyongyang – especially given their obsession with purity and horror of foreign contamination. And matters aren't helped by their record of shunning all offers of vaccine aid.

As if matters weren't serious enough already:

The reclusive regime is facing crises on multiple fronts. A serious lack of rainfall threatens to disrupt farming and food supplies with the country’s main weather broadcast, warning that the “current spring drought” is the second-worst since records began in 1941.

That's on top of the self-imposed Covid isolation – which clearly hasn't worked – and the effects of international sanctions.