N. Korean infants not properly vaccinated: unification minister

Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho speaks during a forum on status of North Korea's economy and society, in Mapo District, Seoul, March 20, provided by the Ministry of Unification. Yonhap

North Korean infants have not received essential vaccinations during the COVID-19 pandemic in a sign of the country's poor health care system, Seoul's point man on Pyongyang said Wednesday.

Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho made the remark at a lecture, called "talk concert," at Yonsei University in Seoul, as the unification ministry has been ramping up its campaign to raise public awareness of North Korea's real situation.

"North Korean children have not been properly vaccinated and the impact will become evident three to five years later. The situation is very serious," Kim said.

In a separate meeting with religious leaders, Kim said North Korean children had, in particular, failed to be inoculated during the COVID-19 pandemic, raising the need for humanitarian aid for the North's infants.

No North Korean children were vaccinated against measles, polio and tuberculosis in 2022, according to a report by UNICEF, the U.N. children's agency.

The minister also said North Korean officials have resumed taking part in events held by global health care organizations amid Pyongyang's partial border opening after years of its COVID-19 border shutdown. (Yonhap)