김정은, Covid-19 백신개발경쟁에 뛰어 들었다고 흑색선전을 해대고있다. 주민들 굶겨죽이지나 말지.

김정은이가 Covid-19 백신개발경쟁에 뛰어 들었다고 흑색선전을 해대고있다. 주민들 굶겨죽이지나 말지.

북한, Coronavirus 환자가 없는데도 왜 굳이 백신개발 경쟁에 뛰어 든다고 선언한것일까?

참으로 꿈도 야무지다. 백신개발을 서방세계에서 경쟁적으로 하고 있다는 뉴스를 들은 모양같은데, 주민들에게 배급해줄 식량도 없는 주제에, 그많은 연구개발비를 어떻게 충당한다고? 왜 이런 엉뚱한 발표를 했을까?

북한(North Korea )이 Coronavirus 백신(Covid-19) 개발경쟁에 뛰어든다고 발표를 했는데, 백신 개발에 최소한 수십억 달러가 소요되는 큰 프로젝트이고, 이미 의료시설이 특출난 서방세계의 여라나라에서는 이미 백신개발의 성공입구에 까지 도달하고 있는데......

북한의 이러한 발표를 확신하거나 기대하는 서방세계는 없는것 같다.  만약에 북한 당국의 과학기술이 그정도로 발달됐다고 믿는다면, 그들의 백신개발에 인체 실험도 현재 실시중에 있어야 앞뒤 정황이 맞는것 같은데...이뉴스에 과연 북한이 어떻게 진행하고 있을까에 대한 논쟁이 일어나고, 전문가들은 그실험은 인체실험이 있어야 한다는점을 강조하고있다. 그래서 서방세계에서는 그들이 백신연구를 하고있다고 발표한것에 대해 매우 회의적으로 보고 있다.

전세계적으로 14.5백만명이 감염됐었고, 605,000이상이 목숨을 앗아간 이번 Covid-19전염병의 치료용 백신개발을 위한 경쟁은, 최근의 기억을 더듬어 본다면 현대 의학기술의 무기력함과 가장 큰 시련을 겪게하고, 가장 주눅이 들게하는 어려운 일들중의 하나이다(infected nearly 14.5 million people and killed more than 605,000 globally). 또한 이번 백신개발 경쟁은 엄청난 경제적 투자도 있지만, 백신개발의 기술과 자국의 자존심 대결도 될수있는, 또한 국가의 위상을 한차원 높일수 있는 기회가 되기도 하는 프로젝트인 것이다.

그러나 북한은 지구상에서 국민건강관리와 치료시설이 가장 뒤떨어진 나라들중의 하나다. 또한 수십년간(for decades)세계보건기구(WHO)로 부터 전염병 면역체계와 백신들을 원조받아 국민건강을 지켜온 형편없는 나라다.  더웃기는것은 북한은 Coronavirus Pandemic환자가 한명도 없다고 자랑스럽게 발표해온 나라인점이다.

왜 Covid-19 전염병에 감염된 환자가 한명도 없다고 주장하는 나라가, 경제적으로 초근목피도 어려움에 처해있는 나라가, 엄청난 돈과 자원이 필요한 백신개발 하겠다고 떠들어 대는가 말이다. 웃기는짖 아닌가?

이에 대해 간단한 해답은 없다. 그러나 김정은이가 북한 주민들의 건강을 지켜주기위해 다시한번 도전하고 있다는것을 북한 주민들에게 보여줘고 안심시키려는 계산과, 심각한 두려움이 합쳐진 쑈인것으로 이해된다.

또한 Covid-19백신개발성공과 생산은 그어떤 과거의 비슷한 전염병백신 개발경험에 비해 비교할수 없을 정도로 어려운 과제인 것이다.  월요일 오후현재, 북한중앙방송은 공식적으로, 북한의 백신개발노력은 북한정부의 웹싸이트에서 나온 북한의 야망을 선언한것 뿐일뿐 세부내용 발표는 아무것도 없었다고 보도하고있다.

어쨋던 그렇게 할수있다는 발표는, 김정은이의 명령은 북한주민들을 보호하는 초자연적인 능력위에서 항상존재하고 있다는 아주 훌륭한 흑색선전술이라는점에는 의심의 여지가 없다.

언제 공산독재자 김정은의 거짖 Propaganda가 그막을 내리는날이 올까? 걱정이다.

이런 김정은 독재 정권에 읍소하고, 돈 퍼주는 문재인 정부는 더 한심할 뿐이다.  거기에 개돼지처럼 끌려 다니는 국민들도 문제고.... 남북연락사무소 폭파로 남한국민들의 세금 700억원이 잿더리로 변했는데도, 변상해 달라고 북한에 요구할수가 없다고 이인영 통일부장관후보는 국회에서 떠들어대고 있단다. 물론 그의 뒤에는 문재인 대통령이 버티고 있어서 더 문제다.

Kim Jong Un is seen at a meeting of top North Korean officials in this image released by KCNA in early July.

Why North Korea says it's joining the coronavirus vaccine race, even though it has no cases

Hong Kong (CNN)North Korea says it is joining the race to develop a Covid-19 vaccine, a global contest that has already drafted in some of the world's best medical minds and is shaping up to cost billions of dollars.

Just don't expect it to take the lead anytime soon.

If North Korea's State Commission of Science and Technology is to be believed, clinical trials for the country's domestic vaccine candidate are already underway -- and a debate is now happening about how to proceed with the third phase, which involves human testing.

To the outside world, the claim could appear dubious.

The race to develop a vaccine for a disease that has infected nearly 14.5 million people and killed more than 605,000 globally is one of the most daunting and pressing technological and scientific challenges the world has faced in recent memory. It will likely cost huge sums of money, and nations are investing heavily to win what's shaping up to become a competition of scientific superiority and national pride.

Yet North Korea has one of the most dilapidated health care systems on the planet, and for decades it has relied on assistance from the World Health Organization (WHO) to supply its people with vaccines and immunizations. Then there's the fact that Pyongyang has not publicly admitted to any infections inside the country.

So why would a country that hasn't claimed a single case of Covid-19 and is in economic dire straits spend time, money and resources on developing a vaccine?

There's no simple answer, but it's likely a combination of genuine fear of the virus as well as a bid to convince North Koreans that leader Kim Jong Un will, once again, rise to the challenge and protect his people.

North Korea was one of the first states to view Covid-19 as a serious threat, and with good reason: most experts believe its health care system would be quickly overwhelmed in a pandemic. Many North Korean medical facilities do not have access to reliable electricity or running water. Medicine and other equipment are often in short supply.

Testing capacity also appears to be an issue. As of early July, only 922 people in a country of about 25 million had been tested for the virus, according to the WHO representative in North Korea, Dr. Edwin Salvador.

Salvador said in an email at the time that since the pandemic began, 25,551 people had been quarantined and later released. As many as 255 people -- all North Korean nationals -- were still being kept in quarantine as of July 3.

Many independent public health experts are skeptical North Korea's claims to have no confirmed Covid-19 infections. The virus is highly infectious, and could have easily seeped into the country undetected.

That being said, North Korea is well placed to stop clusters from spreading, as it can quickly enact the type of lockdown measures that other states were slower to embrace. It is, after all, a dictatorship that strictly controls who comes in -- usually only a small number of tourists, diplomats and aid workers -- and where its citizens can and cannot go. Defectors say average North Koreans are not permitted to travel far from home without government approval.

By most accounts, the pandemic appears under control in North Korea. Kim said earlier this month that his country's efforts have been a "shining success," but warned his officials not to get complacent as the global health crisis has not yet abated.

It's unclear how heavily a domestically produced vaccine candidate plays into North Korea's anti-epidemic strategy. This is, after all, the so-called "Hermit Kingdom" -- a country notorious for secrecy and obfuscation.

Yet Pyongyang must recognize it's behind the pack in the vaccine race. As of last Wednesday, there were more than 140 candidate vaccines in preclinical evaluation and 23 that had reached clinical trials, according to a list compiled by the WHO. Some of the giant pharmaceutical companies backing those vaccines are worth more than North Korea's entire economy.

So financially, a North Korean push for a vaccine doesn't make sense. Look at it through the prism of propaganda potential, however, and the picture becomes more clear.

For decades, North Korea was the technologically advanced, industrialized half of the Korean peninsula courtesy of the legacy of Japanese occupation. Most of the natural resources the Japanese wanted were in the north, which is why they built the factories there. South Korea was the breadbasket, and its economy was largely agrarian until after the Korean War.

Defectors say that today, the North Korean veneer of technological supremacy has been tarnished by the foreign movies and TV shows smuggled into the country. Yet reading North Korean state media gives the impression that the country has become a global technology powerhouse because of the leadership of the Kim family and its state ideology of Juche -- which is usually defined as "self-reliance" but also carries implications of an abstract, ethno-nationalist belief in the superiority of the Korean race.

"Talents, science and technology are our key strategic asset and weapon," a short piece published in June by state news agency KCNA read.

These talents, KCNA said, have "have evoked world-wide admiration."

"It is thanks to the world-level horizons of our scientists and technicians and their self-esteem of living in a powerful country and deep knowledge that the power and prestige of Juche Korea are being demonstrated on the international arena," the report read.

In times of conflict with South Korea or the United States, the North's nuclear weapons program would be the most visible example of this -- it is, after all, one of only eight countries to ever test a nuclear weapon. But most weeks, KCNA carries many other stories about seemingly mundane technological and scientific achievements that hammer the point home.

State media also tends to focus on fields where North Korea has not met the demands of its people -- especially electricity and food security.

KCNA reported on a new type of potato developed by North Korean scientists last week and the breeding of 10 new, "tasty" and "high-yielding" vegetables. In June, the news service published pieces on the country's "world-leading" hydraulic barrages; new advancements in rainbow trout farming; breeding a new species of goldfish; new technological inventions at the Taedonggang beer factory; and the production a new ultraviolet lamp better than its imported equivalent.

Of course, producing a Covid-19 vaccine will likely be much, much more difficult than any of those. As of Monday afternoon, KCNA was yet to officially report on North Korea's vaccine efforts, with the only declaration of the country's ambitions coming from a government website.

However the ability to do so would no doubt be a nice propaganda tool for a leader whose mandate rests on his reported preternatural ability to protect the Korean people.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/20/asia/north-korea-covid-vaccine-intl-hnk/index.html