Near the heavily fortified border that divides North and South Korea, a monitoring device is working 24-7 — not tracking missiles or troop movements, but catching malaria-carrying mosquitoes that might cross the border.
Despite its advanced healthcare service and decades of determined efforts, achieving “malaria-free” status has remained elusive for South Korea, largely thanks to its proximity to isolated North Korea, where the disease is prevalent.
South Korea issued a nationwide malaria warning this year, and scientists say climate change, especially warmer springs and heavier rainfall, could bring more mosquito-borne diseases to the peninsula unless the two Koreas, which remain technically at war, cooperate.
Photo: AFP
The core issue is the demilitarized zone (DMZ), a 4km-wide strip of land that runs the full length of the 250km border. The DMZ is covered in lush forest and wetlands, and largely unvisited by humans since it was created after the 1953 ceasefire that ended Korean War hostilities.
The heavily mined border barrier area has become an ecological refuge for rare species — an Asiatic black bear was photographed in 2018 — and scientists say it is also an ideal breeding ground for mosquitoes, including malaria carriers that can fly as far as 12km.
The DMZ has stagnant water plus “plenty of wild animals that serve as blood sources for mosquitoes to feed on in order to lay their eggs,” said Kim Hyun-woo, a staff scientist at the South Korean Disease Control and Prevention Agency.
South Korea once believed it had eradicated malaria, but in 1993 a soldier serving in the DMZ was discovered to have been infected and the disease has persisted ever since, with cases up nearly 80 percent last year to 747, from 420 in 2022.
“The DMZ is not an area where pest control can be carried out,” said Kim Dong-gun, an environmental biology professor at Sahmyook University in Seoul.
As mosquito populations increase, more malaria carriers are “feeding on soldiers in the border region, leading to a continuous occurrence of malaria cases there,” Kim said.
The South Korean health authorities have installed 76 mosquito-tracking devices nationwide, including in key areas near the DMZ.
North of the border, malaria is more widespread, with WHO data indicating nearly 4,500 cases between 2021 and 2022, with North Korea’s extreme poverty and food insecurity likely exacerbating the situation.
“North Korea is a republic of infectious diseases,” said Choi Jung-hun, a former North Korean doctor who defected in 2011 and now works as a physician in South Korea.
Choi said that even though he lived in the north of the nation, he had treated malaria patients, including a North Korean soldier who had been based near the border with South Korea.
Outdated equipment like old microscopes hampers early and accurate malaria diagnoses, Choi said, while malnutrition and unhygienic water puddles and facilities make residents especially vulnerable to the disease.
The severe flooding that struck North Korea this summer could make things worse. In Pakistan, catastrophic flooding in 2022 contributed to a fivefold increase in malaria cases year-on-year.
“North Korea continues to rely on outdated communal outdoor toilets. Consequently, when floods occur, fecal water overflows, resulting in the swift spread of [all kinds of] infectious diseases,” Choi said.
In the past decade, about 90 percent of South Korea’s malaria patients were infected in regions near the DMZ, data showed — although rare cases have occurred in other areas.
Shin Seo-a, 36, was diagnosed with malaria in 2022 after being hospitalized with recurring high fevers, but she had not visited a border region that year before getting sick.
“I have no recollection of being bitten by any insects,” she said of the period before she became ill.
Doctors initially thought she had a kidney infection and it took about 10 days before she was finally diagnosed with the mosquito-borne disease.
Having malaria felt like “I was being stir-fried on a really hot pan,” she said, adding that it was so painful that in tears, “I once even begged the nurse to just knock me out.”
Malaria on the Korean Peninsula is caused by the parasite Plasmodium vivax and is known to be less fatal than tropical malaria caused by Plasmodium falciparum, which affects many African nations.
Even so, after contracting malaria Shin developed Nontuberculous mycobacteria, a lung disease that typically affects individuals with a weakened immune system.
“Malaria is a truly terrifying disease,” she said, adding that she hoped more could be done to prevent its spread.
However, with nuclear-armed North Korea declaring Seoul its “principal enemy” this year and cutting off contact, as it rejects repeated offers of overseas aid, cooperation on malaria looks unlikely.
Trinidad and Tobago declared a new state of emergency on Friday after authorities accused a criminal network operating in prisons across the country of plotting to kill key government officials and attack public institutions. It is the second state of emergency to be declared in the twin-island republic in a matter of months. In December last year, authorities took similar action, citing concerns about gang violence. That state of emergency lasted until mid-April. Police said that smuggled cellphones enabled those involved in the plot to exchange encrypted messages. Months of intelligence gathering led investigators to believe the targets included senior police officers,
FOREST SITE: A rescue helicopter spotted the burning fuselage of the plane in a forested area, with rescue personnel saying they saw no evidence of survivors A passenger plane carrying nearly 50 people crashed yesterday in a remote spot in Russia’s far eastern region of Amur, with no immediate signs of survivors, authorities said. The aircraft, a twin-propeller Antonov-24 operated by Angara Airlines, was headed to the town of Tynda from the city of Blagoveshchensk when it disappeared from radar at about 1pm. A rescue helicopter later spotted the burning fuselage of the plane on a forested mountain slope about 16km from Tynda. Videos published by Russian investigators showed what appeared to be columns of smoke billowing from the wreckage of the plane in a dense, forested area. Rescuers in
A disillusioned Japanese electorate feeling the economic pinch goes to the polls today, as a right-wing party promoting a “Japanese first” agenda gains popularity, with fears over foreigners becoming a major election issue. Birthed on YouTube during the COVID-19 pandemic, spreading conspiracy theories about vaccinations and a cabal of global elites, the Sanseito Party has widened its appeal ahead of today’s upper house vote — railing against immigration and dragging rhetoric that was once confined to Japan’s political fringes into the mainstream. Polls show the party might only secure 10 to 15 of the 125 seats up for grabs, but it is
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr is to meet US President Donald Trump this week, hoping Manila’s status as a key Asian ally would secure a more favorable trade deal before the deadline on Friday next week. Marcos would be the first Southeast Asian leader to meet Trump in his second term. Trump has already struck trade deals with two of Manila’s regional partners, Vietnam and Indonesia, driving tough bargains in trade talks even with close allies that Washington needs to keep onside in its strategic rivalry with China. “I expect our discussions to focus on security and defense, of course, but also
RSS