A skin disease outbreak in parts of North Pyongan province has prompted provincial authorities to launch emergency quarantine and treatment measures.
According to a Daily NK source in North Pyongan province on Tuesday, a skin disease causing white patches, itching and discharge has been rapidly spreading among residents in Jeongju city and the counties of Sakju, Changsong and Yomju since early this month.
In mid-September, the provincial party committee and people’s committee held emergency meetings and jointly drafted reports submitted to the Central Committee and the Cabinet’s Ministry of Public Health. They immediately received approval and launched emergency quarantine measures.
Authorities target complete eradication by October
The Central Committee and Ministry of Public Health ordered immediate patient surveys in the affected cities and counties, mobilizing all medical facilities including general hospitals and clinics for intensive treatment by stages.
Officials were instructed to classify patients as severe or mild cases. For severe cases, authorities must coordinate with their workplaces to guarantee rest, leave and vacation time for treatment. Family members of patients are to be exempted from social mobilization campaigns to focus solely on treatment.
“A deadline was set to complete treatment by the end of September and achieve ‘complete eradication’ by Oct. 10,” the source said. “Instructions were also given to extend the period until the end of October if necessary for complete quarantine.”
The province is now conducting surveys not just in the four affected areas but across all cities and counties, while strengthening organizational work to ensure medical institutions play substantial roles in patient management and treatment.
Health sector personnel have been organized into special “groups” dispatched throughout the province to focus on identifying causes and blocking transmission.
Meanwhile, the province has strengthened entry controls to Jongju, Sakju, Changsong and Yomju through border guard posts managed by the Ministry of State Security (“No. 10 guard posts”), and established mobile sanitation and quarantine posts throughout the areas to restrict people’s movements.
The skin disease spreading across the four North Pyongan province counties is being called a “rare skin disease” or “rare psoriasis skin disease.”
North Koreans widely believe the outbreak originated in China, with rumors circulating about similar skin disease outbreaks in China’s Liaoning province that prompted preventive vaccinations there.
People express skepticism that the disease could have North Korean origins, citing their long history of consuming unsterilized well water without experiencing such symptoms.