As divided as ever, 70 years after truce

For over 70 years, there has been hostility from the separation of both Koreas. No North Korean troops were on their side of the border when North Korea, China, and the US-led United Nations Command signed an armistice to end the active conflict. Since the beginning of the Covid-19 Pandemic, North Korean soldiers have not been showing up to their in-person talks with the UN Command.

In July of last year, North Korea began spreading propaganda that claimed the coronaviru

s outbreak was caused by civilians who touched “alien things” by the South Korea-North Korea border. North Korea went as far as to not reporting any cases of Covid-19 but as “fever patients” instead. These “fever patients” took up about of fifth of North Korea’

s population. 

In 2018, the respective presidents of North and South Korea had begun meetings that had made some belief in optimistic change but those shortly ended over disagreements over demands for Pyongyang to de-nuclearise. In 2020, North Korea severed hotlines with South Korea. The UN and South Korea are actively trying to keep lines of communication as open as possible to prevent any conflict and as an attempt to de-escalate tension.

There was not much evidence when it came to this article, more of a retelling of how North and South Korea got to this point and how they are managing to keep tension low in the future. One piece of evidence I found inte

resting however was the numbers mentioned for North Korea’s “fever patients.” With how little North Korea is communicating to the UN and South Korea I wonder how accurate these numbers are. Since the article is from a Chinese News Source, the perspective shared was an outside perspective from the parties involved. I think the article tried to stay relatively neutral but the section on North Korea’s Covid policy made me believe it was more biased towards the UN and South Korea.

Unknown, U. (2018). North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left, shakes hands with South Korean President Moon Jae-in at the border village of Panmunjom in Demilitarized Zone on Friday. N. Retrieved 2023, from https://www.dawn.com/news/1404198.