North Korean leader Kim Jong Un “declared victory” Wednesday in his country’s first fight against a COVID-19 outbreak, proclaiming that the DPRK had “eradicated” the virus from within its borders thanks to its socialist system.

But all signs suggest that Kim isn’t telling the truth about the COVID-19 situation, and that means North Koreans are going to suffer even more in the coming months as their government shuns the solutions they most need.

COVID-19 is almost certainly still spreading in unvaccinated North Korea: Experts say the official death total of just 74 and state