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ED JONES / Getty
A visitor to Ganghwa Island looking north in April
The man suspected of being North Korea’s first confirmed Covid-19 patient did not have the virus, says South Korea.
The man apparently deserted from north to south three years ago, before deciding to return last week.
South Korea said the man made his way north by crawling down a drain pipe on a southern island and then swimming about a mile.
Over the weekend, North Korea reported its first suspected Covid-19 case.
He said the patient was a North Korean who had “re-deserted” from the south.
How did the man get to North Korea?
On Monday, the South Korean army said the 24-year-old man came north from Ganghwa Island, near the border.
He apparently crawled under the barbed wire into a drain that leads to the Yellow Sea, before swimming north.
“We saw the specific location from which he fled, as a bag believed to belong to the man was found,” Colonel Kim Jun-rak said, according to the Yonhap news agency.
- North Korea on alert for ‘first suspected virus case’
Previously, North Korean state media said the man had defected to South Korea three years ago, before returning earlier this month.
He arrived in the North Korean city of Kaesong, which is close to the coast, on July 19 and was “suspected” of having “the vicious virus.”
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un reportedly ordered a “maximum emergency system” to contain the virus.
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EPA / KCNA
A photo from the North Korean state media of Kim Jong-un’s weekend at the emergency meeting held to discuss the “Covid-19” patient
What did South Korea say about men’s health?
“The person is not registered as a Covid-19 patient, nor classified as a person who came into contact with patients with the virus,” said Yoon Tae-ho, a senior health official, according to Yonhap.
Virus tests were performed on two people who had close contact with the deserter, and both were negative.
South Korea was one of the first countries outside of China to have a Covid-19 outbreak, but now it has the virus under control.
With a population of over 50 million, the country averages just over 50 new cases per day, many of them imported and then quarantined.
North Korea has not confirmed a single Covid-19 case, something analysts have long said is unlikely.
How common is it to ‘re-desert’?
It is rare for someone to leave the north for the south and then return.
South Korea’s unification ministry told the BBC that there had been 11 confirmed cases since 2015, the last of which was in 2017.
If confirmed, the man who swam from Ganghwa would be 12.
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Analysis
By Subin Kim, BBC News, Seoul
Although he said the re-deserter was only “suspected” of having Covid-19, Pyongyang seems eager to emphasize that the outside world, especially the South, should be blamed for the possible violation of its anti-epidemic measures.
So far, it seems unlikely that the man who returned to Kaesong after three years in South Korea actually has Covid-19.
South Korean authorities have denied this, and Pyongyang has an apparent lack of evidence capacity anyway.
Experts agree that Pyongyang is trying to divert its people from blaming the regime for the difficulties the pandemic has caused in their lives.
Whether or not the cases are confirmed, it is clear that the North Korean economy is faltering over its vigorous prevention measures, including the closure of its border trade route with China.
Pyongyang could try to use this incident as an excuse to demand help from Seoul, such as medical supplies or food.
