A mystery respiratory illness is spreading through parts of North Korea as temperatures drop, and locals are reportedly furious after the regime advised sufferers to wash their hands and gargle with salt water instead of providing proper medical care.
Adults and children have been struck down by the lingering bug across the secretive state. Desperate parents report that youngsters are coughing and sniffling for up to three weeks at a time. Cases have surged in the industrial city of Kaechon and surrounding areas across South Pyongan province, just north of the capital Pyongyang.
Home Remedies Instead of Medicine
Despite the severity of the outbreak, cash-strapped health authorities have failed to provide proper medical supplies or pharmaceutical support, instead instructing citizens to rely on home remedies.
A source in the province told Seoul-based outlet Daily NK that locals are being advised to "wash your hands often, gargle with salt water, and drink ginger tea or magnolia berry tea".
The state's reliance on traditional concoctions has sparked widespread anger among exhausted residents, who are questioning how much longer authorities will push folk cures instead of providing real medicine. Many locals believe respiratory bugs have become noticeably harder to shake off since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Market Demand Skyrockets
With state hospitals chronically lacking basic medication, demand for cold remedies at private markets has skyrocketed. While North Koreans have historically bypassed clinics to buy whatever drugs market traders recommend, the stubborn nature of the current outbreak is forcing a change in behaviour.
Worried residents are now visiting hospital doctors first before heading to the stalls to purchase their own medication. "People now feel it's better to have a doctor confirm the illness first, even if they buy medicine at the market," the source explained. "Even those who used to brush off colds now want an accurate diagnosis when symptoms drag on."
South Korea Battles Flu Surge
The surge in prolonged respiratory cases in the North comes as neighbouring South Korea battles a sharp autumn spike in seasonal influenza.
According to South Korean broadcaster YTN, figures from the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency showed suspected flu cases climbing to 19.2 per 1,000 outpatients in late October, reversing a three-week downward trend. The outbreak has hit youngsters the hardest, with infection rates reaching 49 per 1,000 among seven- to 12-year-olds.
Unlike the folk remedies peddled north of the border, health authorities in Seoul are pushing a nationwide vaccination drive. A Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency official warned that "cases are occurring mainly among school-aged children and children in daycare facilities", adding that "as the epidemic could last until next spring, we earnestly ask that children and the elderly get vaccinated".
Officials also urged seniors to get their flu and COVID-19 jabs together, telling over-65s to "please get vaccinated simultaneously if possible".
