<figure id="attachment_209068" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-209068" style="width: 3000px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="c9d50e17"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2021/10/aflo_170772071.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-209068" class="wp-caption-text">Kim Jong-un attends the Supreme People&#8217;s Assembly on September 29. He certainly looks a lot slimmer than before (Image: KNS/KCNA/AFP/Afro)</figcaption></figure>
 According to North Korea, there are still no cases of the new coronavirus in the country. It has also refused to supply vaccines from abroad. In the background, there are special circumstances unique to North Korea.
 North Korea has continued to decline requests from COVAX, which aims for the equitable international distribution of vaccines. It has informed the United Nations Children&#8217;s Fund (UNICEF), which is leading the effort, that it is willing to transfer the 2.97 million doses of vaccine allocated to it to other countries suffering from the new corona. The U.S. media, &#8220;The Voice of America,&#8221; reported that the U.S. government is not going to accept any foreign aid.
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 &#8220;According to the U.S. media outlet Voice of America, the Ranam Pharmaceutical Plant in the northeastern province of Hamgyeongbuk-do has reportedly succeeded in developing its own vaccine. The researcher was praised as &#8220;a wonderful achievement unique to our country&#8221; and was promoted to the director of the Central Institute of Medical Research. The researcher was promoted to the position of director of the Central Institute of Medical Research, and is said to be treated as if he were a top executive. However, North Korea has been developing medicines without evidence (verification results that provide a basis for effectiveness) in the past. Even if a vaccine could be developed, its effectiveness would be questionable.
 There are reports that Kim Jong-un, the leader of the country, and some of his top officials have already been inoculated with the vaccine, and on September 9, the National Day, Kim&#8217;s drastic weight loss during the review of the military became a hot topic. One theory is that he had a strong adverse reaction to the vaccine and suffered from high fever and vomiting for about a month, and is rumored to have lost 10 to 20 kilograms of weight.
 Vaccines developed outside of Japan, such as those by AstraZeneca and Pfizer, have proven to be effective to some extent. Even if the number of people infected with the new corona in North Korea is really zero, we do not know when it will spread and spread. For the sake of the public&#8217;s health, we should accept the supply from COVAX and hurry up to inoculate the general public.
<h2> &#8220;Enemies&#8217; Propaganda.</h2>
 Why does North Korea continue to refuse? Mr. Gao Yongqi, editor-in-chief of Daily NK Japan and an expert on the situation on the Korean Peninsula, tells us.
 &#8220;According to an inside source in the Korean People&#8217;s Army, a training program (ideological education) has been underway since September 20 at the border guard post in Jagang-do in the north of the country. I heard that the Central Emergency and Quarantine Command distributed a three-page hygiene propaganda material. It contains the following information. It says, &#8220;There is a phenomenon of believing the sweet false propaganda of our enemies and treating our quarantine regulations laxly. It attributes the international community&#8217;s efforts to supply vaccines to &#8220;propaganda from the enemy.
 The document also states. The document goes on to say, &#8220;The mutant virus is spreading faster than the pace of research and production of therapeutic agents, and the whole world is in fear. In response to this, the world is full of amazement and admiration for General Kim Jong-un, who has protected our (North Korea&#8217;s) military and civilian population with early border sealing measures. Foreign countries are praising North Korea for its zero cases of infection. I guess they want to tell us not to worry because they are taking all possible measures.
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 Of course, no one in the world would praise North Korea&#8217;s measures against the new corona. The authorities have their own agenda behind North Korea&#8217;s hostility toward foreign vaccines and their own praise of their own response. Mr. Gao continues.
 &#8220;There is some talk in the military about this. If the vaccine is imported and inoculated, the idea of dependence on foreign powers will spread in the People&#8217;s Army. If the vaccine is imported and inoculated, the idea of dependence on foreign powers will spread in the People&#8217;s Army, and the Juche (subjectivity), revolutionary, and class ideology will be cracked, even if only slightly.
 In North Korea, dependence on Western society, whether for vaccines or products such as cars and televisions, is taboo. It is believed that if ideas and goods from hostile countries flow into the country, the people will be affected and it will be difficult to maintain the regime. Kim Jong-un and his cadres are obsessed with the idea that they must overcome the raging new Corona by using their own development capabilities and revolutionary spirit, not by relying on foreign countries.
 North Korea&#8217;s leaders prioritize protecting the regime over the lives of its citizens. The ego of the authorities is about to render the vaccine that has been prepared useless.

 KNS/KCNA/AFP/Afro

 North Korea says there are no cases of the new coronavirus in the country. It has also declined to supply vaccines from abroad. Why does North Korea continue to refuse to provide vaccines to its citizens? In the background, there is a surprising situation unique to North Korea.

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