Republic of Korea to help northern neighbor fight COVID-19

South Korea, with the support of the United States, is ready to help the DPRK with the supply of a vaccine against a new type of coronavirus with the consent of Pyongyang. This was announced on Monday by the President of the Republic of Korea, Moon Jae-in, in Vienna.

According to him, developing countries, along with developed ones, should get fair access to vaccines, since only in this case it will be possible to get rid of the coronavirus. In this regard, South Korea wants to make a larger contribution within the framework of the international mechanism COVAX (“Covax”), he noted.

“Simultaneously with we agreed a partnership with America, which will allow us to become a global hub for the production of vaccines, through which we will be able to make a world-class contribution. In this case, North Korea should, of course, benefit. If North Korea agrees with this, then it will also be taken into account. America is pleased to support humanitarian aid to North Korea,” said Moon Jae-in at a press conference after meeting with Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen.

As the Austrian president added, developed countries are interested in organizing access for developing countries to vaccines. “This also applies to North Korea, if it wants it. This is a humanitarian issue. However, I don't know whether North Korea has spoken out on this topic, is there is any data at all about the situation with pandemic in this country. But if such a signal comes, we will definitely not ignore it,  -said Van der Bellen.

Earlier, the American television company CNN reported, citing a US administration official, that the DPRK rejected the proposal of COVAX representatives to discuss the supply of a batch of vaccine from  the new coronavirus. It was noted that Pyongyang appears to be "not fully ready" to accept international assistance, since the DPRK, in turn, must provide COVAX with a certain set of documents, including nationwide vaccination plans and data on the number of citizens who will receive graft.

In February, the international COVAX mechanism announced that the DPRK would receive almost 2 million doses of coronavirus vaccines from the British-Swedish company AstraZeneca (AstraZeneca), with 1 .7 million doses were scheduled to ship in May, but delivery was delayed. In January last year, the people's republic introduced strict quarantine measures, completely closing the borders and isolating itself from the outside world. According to official data, not a single case of infection with a new coronavirus has been detected in the DPRK since the beginning of the pandemic.