North Korea started a rare political event that is supposed to happen every five years or so with about 5,000 people, including leader Kim Jong Un, gathered inside without masks and seated on Tuesday.
While it is impossible to verify whether facial coatings were used at any time, none of the images released Wednesday by North Korean state news KCNA of the Workers’ Party Congress show people wearing masks inside.
From the point of view of propaganda, the images make sense: North Korea claims not to have recorded any cases of Covid-19, so holding a high-level meeting without masks is one way to reinforce that narrative.
But almost no one believes North Korea has survived a pandemic that has infected more than 86 million people and killed nearly 2 million. In fact, the Kim regime recognizes the danger of the virus and has made incredible efforts to stop its spread.
Almost all travel in the country ceased shortly after the virus emerged a year ago, and domestic travel is also severely restricted. North Korea’s state media regularly publishes articles that remind its people of the importance of its emergency anti-epidemic campaign. And the regime allegedly executed two people for not following Covid-19 guidelines, including a customs official who did not follow virus prevention rules while importing goods from China.
Experts believe Pyongyang is adopting a vigilant response because it knows its deteriorating health infrastructure is unlikely to contain a major outbreak of Covid-19.
This makes the photos from Tuesday’s meeting even more puzzling. Perhaps North Korea believes the guarantees it established were good enough to allow attendees not to wear masks to the meeting. This is a unique event that North Korea does not want to postpone: it is only the eighth congress of the North Korean history party and the second in Kim’s tenure. The last one held before Kim took power was in 1980.
But keeping it is a risk. If only one of the 5,000 people who traveled across the country to attend the meeting had Covid-19 and it was contagious, it means that Kim may have started an incredibly important political meeting with a high-profile event.