A total of 63 deaths reported, but experts say that number is abnormally small compared to suspected infections.
The country is also trying to prevent its fragile economy from deteriorating, but the outbreak could be worse than officially reported since the country lacks virus tests and other health-care resources and may be underreporting deaths to soften the political impact on authoritarian leader Kim Jong-un.
South Korea's spy agency told lawmakers Thursday it assesses that North Korea has all but finished preparations to conduct a nuclear test, which would be its seventh overall and first since 2017, and only has to determine the timing, according to lawmakers who attended the closed-door briefing. Kim has called the outbreak a "great upheaval," berated officials for letting the virus spread and restricted the movement of people and supplies between cities and regions.
North Korea also must urgently work to protect its crops from a drought that hit during the crucial rice-planting season, a worrisome development in a country that has long suffered from food insecurity. "All sectors of the national economy are stepping up the production to the maximum while strictly observing the anti-epidemic steps taken by the party and the state," Korean Central News Agency reported.
But it will be challenging for North Korea to provide treatment for the already large number of people with COVID-19. Deaths may possibly approach a scale of tens of thousands, considering the size of the country's caseload, and international assistance would be crucial, Park said.
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