# 2061
More than a week ago stories of an epidemic affecting children began coming out of North Korea. These reports came from the Buddhist aid group Good Friends.
Epidemic spreads in N.K. border towns: aid group
SEOUL, June 3 (Yonhap) -- An unidentified epidemic is spreading along some North Korean towns bordering China, placing North Korean health authorities on high alert, a local aid group said Tuesday.
The disease, suspected to be avian influenza by some North Korean doctors or hand-foot-mouth disease (HFMD) by some others, has already taken the lives of many North Korean children under seven years old, the Buddhist group Good Friends said in its newsletter.
Yesterday, North Korea denied these reports.
Today, we get a new report from the Good Friends aid organization, the story carried this time by the Associated Press.
Jun 11, 5:22 AM EDT
Bird flu outbreak reported in North Korea, South Korean aid group says
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- Bird flu has broken out near a North Korean military base in the first reported case of the disease in the country since 2005, a South Korean aid group said Wednesday.
The outbreak occurred last week near an air force base in Jongpyong county in South Hamgyong province, northeast of the capital Pyongyang, the Seoul-based private aid group Good Friends said, citing the North's quarantine authorities.
The case was first reported June 3, when several birds were found dead in a small mountain area near the military base, said the aid agency. There were no details on whether it was the H5N1 virus, which can be deadly to humans.
South Korea's Unification Ministry said it could not immediately confirm the report.
Separately, dozens of magpies were found dead inside a political prison camp in Hwasong in North Hamgyong province, the aid group said. A prison camp official's 5-year-old child subsequently suffered a high fever and died, the group said. There was no way to confirm if the child caught a virus from the birds or to know what killed the child.
The report goes on to say that 3 additional people at the camp were diagnosed with an unidentified `viral infection', and that the camp was quarantined.
According to the Associated Press article, the Good Friends organization has provided reliable information about North Korea in the past.
From this distance it is impossible to know how much stock to put into these rumors. Two reports in a little over a week, however, is worth taking note of.
