North Korea just held a major political meeting with more than 5,000 people — and there wasn’t a mask in sight

North Korea kicked off a uncommon political occasion that is presupposed to occur each 5 years or so with about 5,000 people — together with chief Kim Jong Un — gathered indoors with out masks and seated shut collectively on Tuesday.

While it is unimaginable to confirm if face coverings have been worn at any level in time, not one of the photos launched by North Korea’s state-run KCNA information Wednesday of the Workers Party Congress present people carrying masks indoors.

From a propaganda standpoint, the photographs make sense: North Korea claims to not have recorded a single case of Covid-19, so holding a high-level meeting with out masks is a solution to reinforce that narrative.

But nearly nobody believes North Korea has been spared from a pandemic that has contaminated more than 86 million people and killed almost 2 million. In reality, Kim’s regime acknowledges the hazard of the virus and has gone to unbelievable lengths to cease its unfold.

Almost all travel into the country ceased shortly after the virus emerged a yr in the past, and inside journey can also be closely restricted. North Korean state media commonly carries articles reminding its people on the significance of its emergency anti-epidemic marketing campaign. And the regime reportedly had two people executed for not following Covid-19 tips, together with a customs official who didn’t observe virus prevention guidelines whereas importing items from China.

Experts consider Pyongyang is enacting a vigilant response as a result of it is aware of its dilapidated healthcare infrastructure probably can’t comprise a major outbreak of Covid-19.

That makes the pictures from the meeting Tuesday all of the more puzzling. Perhaps North Korea believes the safeguards it put in place have been adequate to permit attendees to not put on masks to the meeting. This is a distinctive occasion that North Korea doesn’t need to postpone — it is just the eighth Party Congress in North Korea’s historical past and the second of Kim’s tenure. The final one held earlier than Kim took energy was in 1980.

But holding it’s a threat. If just one of many 5,000 people who traveled from throughout the nation to attend the meeting had Covid-19 and was infectious, it means Kim might have just kicked off an extremely essential political meeting with a super-spreader occasion.