| Could North Korea be held up as one of the world's most successful countries at managing Covid-19? Consider the facts, at least according to Pyongyang. For two years as the virus spread like wildfire across the globe, North Korea said it had no Covid-19 cases, making it shockingly successful at keeping the contagious pathogen out. When the virus finally managed to infiltrate its borders, or when Pyongyang officially acknowledged that it had a Covid case for the first time, leaders went into emergency overdrive, basically putting the entire country into quarantine. Officials in the North Korean capital announced this week that they were easing the lockdown put in place less than three weeks ago, saying the outbreak was under control. They cited plunging case counts and patted themselves on the back for a job well done — all the while rejecting offers of international aid.  Kim Jong Un Photographer: Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP Kim Jong Un rolled back lockdown measures hours after leading a Politburo meeting, with state media saying "the pandemic situation is being controlled and improved across the country." The official case count showed infections, known as "fever cases" in the country where tests are scarce, falling to fewer than 100,000 a day from a peak of almost 400,000 on May 15. The country counted a total of more than 3.7 million "fevered persons" since late April, of which 95% have recovered, according to the Korean Central News Agency. Its secret: traditional medicine such as herbs and plants. "A newly organized COVID-19 treatment and research team operates in the DPRK to develop treatment methods for scientifically controlling the spread of the malignant virus," state media reported, referring to North Korea's official name. "By intensively using modern and traditional medication methods, it scrupulously carries on the work to confirm, revise and supplement the contents of the existing guide for treating COVID-19." All this may sound vaguely familiar to North Korea observers. Choi Jung-hun, who worked as an infectious disease specialist in North Korea and defected to South Korea in 2012, said Pyongyang is only now disclosing the cases to allay fears over a noticeable wave of infections. Reports of a fast decline allows Kim to claim the credit for handling the outbreak so well. "They reported a soaring number of cases for just over a week and are touting that the cases are already plunging," Choi said. "Kim won't hesitate to go further to declare that the virus has been wiped out from the state around the time China eases lockdown." Exactly how much damage the virus did within the country's borders is unknown. — Sangmi Cha | 
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