| Kim Jong Un's warning that North Korea faced a "great crisis" over a quarantine breach is raising more questions about what's going wrong inside his secretive regime. While the official Korean Central News Agency gave no further details on Wednesday, North Korea has recently been bracing its people for a tough road ahead. Earlier this month Kim told his ruling party the food situation was "growing tense," and his own dramatic weight loss had citizens worried he looked emaciated. Any Covid-19 outbreak in North Korea, if widespread, could potentially be devastating given the country has an antiquated health-care system and likely no vaccines. Even though North Korea says it has no coronavirus cases—a claim doubted by U.S. and Japanese officials—it has taken drastic containment measures that have worsened the regime's economic woes, including closing the border with its biggest trade partner, China.  Kim Jong Un said North Korea faces a "great crisis" over a quarantine breach. Photographer: Jung Yeon-Je/Getty Images By making its problems public, Kim may be sending a signal that he would like the Biden administration to allow more assistance through international organizations like the United Nations World Food Program. But at the same time, Kim is reluctant to appear as if he's seeking help from the outside world. Allowing foreigners in the country risks undermining his strict quarantine policies and raises doubts at home over his management of the virus and diplomatic relations with the U.S.. North Korea was supposed to receive 1.7 million AstraZeneca vaccines by the end of May through Covax, the program backed by the World Health Organization. But shipments were delayed after North Korea was unwilling to follow the organization's instructions and rules, Japan's Kyodo News reported. North Korea has taken strong action after incidents that could expose the country to the virus. About a year ago, Kim's regime locked down the border city of Kaesong out of fear a person who defected from South Korea may have carried the virus. About two months after that, North Korean personnel along its southern coastal border shot a man who worked for South Korea's fisheries ministry and burned his body at sea. He was apparently treated that way because the North Koreans believed he could have been infected with the coronavirus. Further complicating matters, in recent weeks North Korea's official media has started to include commentary that vaccines may not prove to be effective against new virus variants—potentially an attempt to paper over the country's lack of doses. Fear of the virus also means it's unlikely North Korea will hold diplomatic talks with the Biden administration anytime soon. "It's apparent that they see the virus as the biggest threat to their survival," says Duyeon Kim, an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security in Seoul. "More so than what they claim is American hostility."—Jon Herskovitz and Jeong-Ho Lee | 
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