Photo/Illutration North Korean leader Kim Jong Un wears a face mask on state television during a meeting acknowledging the country’s first case of COVID-19 on May 12 in Pyongyang. (KRT via AP)

"Brew willow leaf tea and drink three times a day." "Ease coughing with honey." "Open the windows."

These are some COVID-19 remedies a North Korean newspaper recommended. North Korea's state-owned Korean Central Television (KCTV) also quoted an individual as stating, "My fever broke after I took a medicine and gargled with salt water."

After claiming "zero COVID-19 cases," North Korea is now reporting a surging wave of them.

Bragging about his nation's "corona-free" track record, the nation's leader, Kim Jong Un, kept rejecting all offers to be given a vaccine supply. North Korea and Eritrea are currently the only two unvaccinated nations in the world, according to the World Health Organization.

In a matter of just a few days since North Korea reported its first COVID-19 case, more than 1.2 million people are now believed to have been infected, with 50 already dead.

Describing the situation as the "greatest disaster since the nation's founding," Kim rebuked public health officials and ordered pharmacies to remain in operation 24/7.

Before March, KCTV aired footage that portrayed Kim as if he was a dashing film star--racing on a white horse with his entourage and supervising a missile launch, clad in a leather jacket and sporting sunglasses.

Meanwhile, North Koreans continued to live in dire poverty. With a drought occurring while the nation was in COVID-19 lockdown, a United Nations report estimated 40 percent of the population to be malnourished even without the pandemic.

On the Korean Peninsula, smallpox was traditionally called "mama," which is also an honorific for aristocrats. The people were said to have revered the disease as if it were a god and invited priestesses to pray for it to go away.

Back in the days before scientific cures, clinging to faith was probably the only recourse.

But North Korea's response to the pandemic has occurred in this modern age. This is the reality that resulted from its supreme leader preaching "cleanliness" in a country that refused to stock vaccines and medicines.

Are the people of North Korea still brewing willow leaf tea and gargling with salt water?

--The Asahi Shimbun, May 17

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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