The Washington Post - USA (2022-05-17)

A16 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.TUESDAY, MAY 17 , 2022

BY MIN JOO KIM

seoul — North Korean leader

Kim Jong Un berated officials for

delays in pandemic response and

mobilized the military to fight the

nationwide coronavirus outbreak

that is posing one of the toughest

challenges to his rule.

For the first time since the

coronavirus began sweeping the

world in early 2020, North Korea

admitted last week that it is fac-

ing an “explosive” spread of the

virus, a worrying development

for the largely unvaccinated

country.

The state-run Korean Central

News Agency (KCNA) reported

Monday that more than 1.2 mil-

lion people have fallen ill with

“fever,” of whom 50 have died

since late April. Experts noted

that North Korean authorities ap-

pear to use the word “fever” as a

euphemism for covid-19, as they

probably lack the capacity for

proper diagnosis because of a

shortage of test kits.

Lacking medical resources, the

country of 25 million appears to

be handling the surging number

of patients mostly by isolating

them. More than 560,000 people

with “fever” in North Korea are in

quarantine, state media said

Monday.

Since North Korea reported its

first official coronavirus case

Thursday, Kim has locked down

the country and ordered officials

to “absolutely curb the spread of

the malicious virus.” But he said

Sunday that his public health

orders have not been followed by

officials.

“He strongly criticized the Cab-

inet and public health sector for

their irresponsible work attitude

and organizing and executing

ability,” KCNA reported Monday.

During an emergency Politbu-

ro meeting on Sunday, Kim con-

demned the slow distribution of

medicine to pharmacies and or-

dered the army’s medical unit to

help stabilize medicine supplies.

Afterward, Kim visited pharma-

cies in Pyongyang and lamented

their “poor situation,” which in-

cluded a lack of proper medicine

storage.

Over the past 2^1 / 2 years, Pyong-

yang maintained a “zero covid”

policy that included stringent

quarantine measures and a

closed border. Although the

moves might have helped the

country avoid a major outbreak,

they triggered health and food

crises.

Outside experts had long

doubted North Korea’s claims

that the country was free from the

coronavirus.

Just weeks before announcing

its first official case, North Korea

held a massive military parade in

Pyongyang that gathered about

20,000 people, in what experts

said could have been a super-

spreader event.

North Korea has rebuffed of-

fers of millions of vaccine doses

by the U.N.-based Covax distribu-

tion program, probably because

of concerns about allowing moni-

toring personnel into the country.

North Korea has not yet re-

sponded to offers of coronavirus

aid from its rival South Korea,

Seoul’s Unification Ministry re-

ported on Monday. The ministry

said Seoul is willing to provide the

North with resources such as vac-

cines, medicines, masks and diag-

nostic kits, and also share best

practices for pandemic response.

Oh Myoung-don, an infectious-

disease expert at Seoul National

University, said that the coronavi-

rus epidemic in North Korea ap-

pears to have started a month ago

and that it might be too late to

resolve it with vaccines. “Of

course the vaccines are impor-

tant, but unfortunately, vaccines

are not expected to play a big role

in containing this outbreak,” he

told a seminar hosted Monday by

his university.

Oh said it will take at least a

month for North Korea to receive

vaccines, distribute them and im-

munize citizens, while what it

urgently needs is medical support

such as antiviral treatments for

patients already infected with the

virus. Given the country’s poor

health infrastructure, the covid

death toll in North Korea could

surpass 34,000, he said.

Kim scolds o∞cials as

covid surges in N. Korea

Orders army to help

stabilize medicine

supplies in pharmacies

BY RICK NOACK

paris — French President Em-
manuel Macron appointed Élisa-
beth Borne as his new prime min-
ister on Monday, selecting a politi-
cian with leftist credentials to
lead his government as he seeks to
secure his mandate in the legisla-
tive elections next month.
The appointment of Borne, 61,
who most recently served as labor,
employment and integration min-
ister in the outgoing government,
appeared to be both a nod to leftist
voters who have urged Macron to
focus more on environmental and
social issues and to his centrist
base that wants him to continue to
pursue liberalization reforms.
Macron was widely expected to
name a female prime minister,
only the second in French history,
with a left-leaning and environ-
mental political background to
succeed outgoing prime minister
Jean Castex.
In her first speech after her
appointment, Borne on Monday
dedicated her term “to all the little
girls, by telling them, follow your

dreams.”

As a former ecology minister

who is rooted in left-wing politics

but also respected among the cen-

ter-right for having challenged

the powerful unions in France,

Borne had for weeks been dis-

cussed as a top contender.

“Ecology, health, education,

full employment, democratic ren-

aissance, Europe and security: to-

gether, with the new government,

we will continue to act tirelessly

for French people,” Macron tweet-

ed on Monday.

“It’s a way to show that there’s a

sort of continuity,” but also a mes-

sage to the left to say, “look, I’m

not completely hinging on the

right,” said Vincent Martigny, a

political scientist at the University

of Nice.

Macron won reelection last

month by uniting a broad but

fragile alliance of largely center-

right and left-leaning voters

against far-right candidate Ma-

rine Le Pen. But in the legislative

vote in June, leftist parties could

pose the biggest challenge to his

mandate, as far-left politician

Jean Luc Mélenchon hopes to win

a parliamentary majority.

It is unclear if the appointment

of Borne, which Mélenchon on

Monday called the start of “a new

period of social and ecological

mistreatment,” can dispel leftist

concerns over Macron and his

second term.

As transport minister, Borne

pushed for cuts of benefits for

railway employees. And even

though the unemployment rate in

France fell significantly during

her term as labor and employ-

ment minister, she faced criticism

from the left over unemployment

benefit cuts.

Castex, 56, who led the French

government since 2020 and han-

dled government business

through most of the pandemic,

was largely associated with the

center-right. “For nearly two

years, he acted with passion and

commitment in the service of

France,” Macron said of Castex on

Monday. Despite such praise for

the outgoing prime minister, the

resignation of Castex never ap-

peared to be in doubt.

In France, major changes in the

government agenda are often ac-

companied by the appointment of

a new prime minister, and Ma-

cron had repeatedly said that he

wanted his second mandate to

look different from his first. “I

have no interest in doing five

more years,” Macron said last

month. “I want them to be five

years of complete renewal.”

By choosing Borne, however,

Macron has selected a prime min-

ister whose appointment may not

spark the enthusiasm that some of

his allies had hoped for. While

Borne has earned praise within

the government as a determined

worker and loyal supporter of Ma-

cron, she is seen as a technocrat

and not as a skilled campaigner.

That perception could limit her

influence ahead of the parliamen-

tary vote next month. But she is

expected to play a key role in the

following months, notably in ne-

gotiations over an increase of the

retirement age in France, the top-

ic that could become one of the

most divisive reform projects led

by Macron.

Borne named prime minister of France

CHRISTIAN HARTMANN/POOL/EUROPEAN PRESSPHOTO AGENCY/SHUTTERSTOCK

President Emmanuel Macron appointed Élisabeth Borne prime minister as he seeks to secure his mandate in June’s legislative elections.

Tuesday, May 17 at 12:00 p.m.

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