Shang Yongmei

Shang Yongmei

Associate researcher, Jilin Academy of Social Sciences

Shang Yongmei is an associate researcher with the Jilin Academy of Social Sciences, focusing on political and economic studies of the Korean Peninsula. She has published and translated numerous essays and theses on Korea and China-Korea relations.

A health worker takes the temperature of a woman amid concerns over the Covid-19 coronavirus, at an entrance of the Pyongchon District People's Hospital in Pyongyang, 1 April 2020. (Kim Won Jin/AFP)

Chinese academic: Can North Korea’s healthcare system survive the pandemic?

For a long time, North Korea has maintained that it has no confirmed cases of the coronavirus, despite some reports suggesting otherwise. Whatever the truth of the matter, a closer look at how North Korea’s medical system is structured and run will give us an idea of its capacity to withstand crises such as epidemic outbreaks. Chinese academic Shang Yongmei delves into the details.