North Korea’s Hidden HIV Crisis

North Korea claims it as socialist wonderland with no HIV, no prostitution, no homosexuality, and, by implication, no STIs at all. But it’s simply untrue. From colonial-era brothels and wartime disease to famine, hidden clinics, and quiet HIV treatment, we trace North Korea’s secret history of sexually transmitted disease. Using peer-reviewed studies, defector medical records, and field reporting, this is a look at what happens when a state tries to govern biology with censorship. It is a story about denial, stigma, and the limits of total control. A dictatorship can censor language, ban pornography, and imprison prostitutes. It still cannot negotiate with a bacterium. Subscribe, unless you are currently drafting this year’s report proving that socialism has abolished all bacterial transmission. OP Song: The Loyal Answer “Yes” ED Song: Nice to Meet You Reference: Daily NK. “Prostitution Industry Spreads in North Korea.” Daily NK English, August 30, 2017. Human Rights Watch. The Invisible Exodus: North Koreans in the People’s Republic of China. New York: Human Rights Watch, 2002. Human Rights Watch. “Worth Less Than an Animal”: Abuses and Due Process Violations in Pretrial Detention in North Korea. New York: Human Rights Watch, 2020. Human Rights Watch. “You Cry at Night but Don’t Know Why”: Sexual Violence against Women in North Korea. New York: Human Rights Watch, 2018. Mun, Dong Hui. “Cycle of Prostitution Persists Unabated in North Korea.” Daily NK English, March 20, 2019. Radio Free Asia. “North Korea Forces STD Tests for Citizens Returning From Trips to China.” Radio Free Asia, October 29, 2019. United States Department of State. Trafficking in Persons Report 2009: North Korea. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of State, 2009. United States Department of State. Trafficking in Persons Report 2010: Korea, Democratic People’s Republic of. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of State, 2010. Han, Pengyu, Yanxia Teng, Xiuxin Bi, Jinge Li, and Dianxing Sun. “Epidemiology Survey of Infectious Diseases in North Korean Travelers, 2015–2017.” BMC Infectious Diseases 19 (2019): 13. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12879-018-36.... Park, Do-Hyeon, Min-Ho Choi, Ah-Young Lim, and Hee Young Shin. “An Analysis of Infectious Disease Research Trends in Medical Journals From North Korea.” Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health 51 (2018): 109–20. https://doi.org/10.3961/jpmph.17.145. Stone, Richard. “North Korea’s HIV Epidemic Emerges from the Shadows.” Science 364, no. 6447 (2019): 1215–16. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.364.6.... Redditt, Vanessa J., Praseedha Janakiram, Daniela Graziano, and Meb Rashid. “Health Status of Newly Arrived Refugees in Toronto, Ont: Part 1, Infectious Diseases.” Canadian Family Physician 61 (2015): e303–e309. Choi, Jae-Ki, Seung-Ju Lee, and Jin-Hong Yoo. “History of Syphilis and Gonorrhea in Korea.” Infection & Chemotherapy 51, no. 2 (2019): 210–16. https://doi.org/10.3947/ic.2019.51.2.210. Nishiura, Hiroshi, Hyojung Lee, Baoyin Yuan, Akira Endo, Andrei R. Akhmetzhanov, and Gerardo Chowell. “Infectious Disease Risks Among Refugees From North Korea.” International Journal of Infectious Diseases 66 (2018): 22–25. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijid.2017.1.... Committee for Human Rights in North Korea. Lives for Sale: Personal Accounts of Women Fleeing North Korea to China. Washington, DC: Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, 2009. Chapters: 00:00 Intro 03:38 A Hidden Epidemic 16:22 A Historical Problem 28:43 Secret Health Campaigns 32:59 The Untold Human Stories 46:31 Final Thoughts