How an Isolated Country Fights a Pandemic: Troy Stangarone

On Friday, March 13, Commander of United States Forces Korea General Robert Abrams noted that North Korea’s armed forces have been in lockdown for about 30 days and only recently have started routine training again. Citing one example, General Abrams highlighted that the North Korean airforce did not fly an airplane for 24 days. He believes this is a sign that the country is trying to deal with the coronavirus outbreak.

 

Meanwhile, Kim Jong-un was featured in North Korea’s state media supervising live-fire artillery exercise. The country has also launched short-ranged projectiles. 

 

What is going on? Why would North Korea choose to look more aggressive at a time when it could most benefit from international cooperation? KEI Senior Director and Fellow Troy Stangarone joins us to answer this question.

 

You can find a link to Troy’s article for the Diplomat magazine here: https://thediplomat.com/2020/03/coronavirus-the-economic-costs-for-north-korea/ 

 

Please also listen to our previous episodes on how the Korean Peninsula is addressing the coronavirus outbreak.

 

With KEI Fellow Kyle Ferrier on South Korea's response: http://keia.org/podcast/tackling-coronavirus-not-costless-kyle-ferrier

And with Dr. John Grundy on the preparedness of the North Korean healthcare system: http://keia.org/podcast/can-north-korea-take-coronavrius-not-alone-john-grundy