The “promised pastor” v the god-king of Pyongyang
coronavirus to do not mix—or perhaps mix only too well. Take South Korea which, until recently overtaken by Italy, had the highest number of covid-19 infections outside China. Of 7,869 diagnosed cases, three-fifths trace back to a sect called the Shincheonji Church of Jesus.
Other Christian leaders call Shincheonji a cult. Many of its 245,000 adherents hide their membership from family and workmates. At church they worship sitting on the ground in serried ranks, are not allowed to wear glasses—or, at least until recently, face masks—and are encouraged to attend even when ill. In February one congregant with undiagnosed covid-19 infected dozens of worshippers in Daegu, a southern city.
What of that other cult leader, North Korea’s Kim Jong Un? He also goes in for white chargers, mass games and dodgy family mythology, but is far swifter at spotting threats. In January, soon after reports surfaced of a growing epidemic in China, North Korea slammed its borders shut. The country responded similarly to China’s outbreak ofin 2003 and even to the outbreak of Ebola in West Africa in 2014. The measures were much more comprehensive this time.
The question is whether the “super-special” quarantine measures are working. North Korea supposedly has not a single infection. Perhaps its extreme quarantine has worked. As Andrei Lankov of Kookmin University puts it, the regime is readier to see tens of thousands of already malnourished citizens starve to death, as the price of staple foods rises sharply, than it is to let the virus take hold. Mr Lankov predicts pockets of hunger in remoter rural areas and among groups deemed to be disloyal.
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