North Korea's suspected COVID-19 caseload approaching 2 million

Seoul, South Korea — North Korea on Thursday reported 262,270 more suspected COVID-19 cases as its pandemic caseload neared 2 million - a week after the country acknowledged the outbreak and scrambled to slow infections in its unvaccinated population.

The country is also trying to prevent its fragile economy from deteriorating further, but the outbreak could be worse than officially reported since the country lacks virus tests and other health care resources and may be underreporting deaths to soften the political impact on authoritarian leader Kim Jong Un.

North Korea's anti-virus headquarters reported a single additional death, raising its toll to 63, which experts have said is abnormally small compared to the suspected number of coronavirus infections.