Warning: fopen(/home/virtual/epih/journal/upload/ip_log/ip_log_2026-03.txt): failed to open stream: Permission denied in /home/virtual/lib/view_data.php on line 95 Warning: fwrite() expects parameter 1 to be resource, boolean given in /home/virtual/lib/view_data.php on line 96 Misattribution of Korea’s malaria elimination status in 1979
Skip Navigation
Skip to contents

Epidemiol Health : Epidemiology and Health

OPEN ACCESS
SEARCH
Search
Advanced Search
mobile menu button

Articles

Page Path
HOME > Epidemiol Health > Volume 47; 2025 > Article
Perspective
 Misattribution of Korea’s malaria elimination status in 1979
Roma Seol1orcid, Youngtaek Kim2orcid
Epidemiol Health 2025;47:e2025070.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4178/epih.e2025070
Published online: December 10, 2025

1Department of Preventive Medicine, Inje University College of Medicine, Busan, Korea

2Department of Preventive Medicine, Chungnam National University Hospital, Daejeon, Korea

Correspondence: Youngtaek Kim Department of Preventive Medicine, Chungnam National University Hospital, 282 Munhwa-ro, Jung-gu, Daejeon 35015, Korea E-mail: ruyoung01@cnuh.co.kr
• Received: July 10, 2025   • Accepted: November 28, 2025

© 2025, Korean Society of Epidemiology

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

prev next
  • 1,217 Views
  • 44 Download
Full Article

Download PDF Download PDF

  • This study aimed to trace the origin and propagation of the common but incorrect belief that the World Health Organization (WHO) declared Republic of Korea (ROK) malaria-free in 1979. We conducted a source-based historical review of WHO Weekly Epidemiological Record (WER), regional reports from WHO’s Western Pacific Regional Office (WPRO), United States Department of Defense (DoD) health reports, and scholarly and web-based citations. WHO WER 1981 identified the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) as one of the countries that had eliminated malaria by 1979. WHO/WPRO, to which ROK belongs, reported that malaria had not been eliminated in ROK as of 1980. Misinterpretations within United States DoD documents incorrectly attributed this certification to ROK, resulting in widespread citation errors across academic literature and online sources. The misattribution of DPRK’s elimination status to ROK derives from a misreading of WHO records and has persisted for decades through repeated, unverified citations. Strengthening source accuracy and citation practices is essential for ensuring reliability in global health reporting.
  • Keywords: Malaria epidemiology, Misinformation, Information dissemination, World Health Organization certification
Global malaria elimination efforts have frequently been shaped by milestone declarations issued by the World Health Organization (WHO), which function not only as scientific assessments but also as public health benchmarks. Among these statements, a widely repeated yet inaccurate claim asserts that WHO certified the Republic of Korea (ROK) as malaria-free in 1979. This assertion appears in government publications, academic articles, and online references, including Wikipedia. Our analysis, however, shows that the WHO certification applied instead to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). The confusion was sustained through repeated misreadings and became more firmly entrenched following a 2009 publication by the United States Department of Defense (DoD).
This paper aimed to clarify the historical and documentary basis for this misattribution by examining primary WHO reports, Western Pacific Regional Office (WPRO) documentation, United States military health bulletins, and the subsequent dissemination of these sources in ROK and international academic literature. Notably, the absence of the DPRK from WPRO reporting after 1979, which reflects its non-member status in the regional office, created an interpretive void that contributed to later misunderstandings. Through this review, we sought to promote greater accuracy in epidemiological documentation and historical health interpretation.
Comparative analysis was conducted using WHO Weekly Epidemiological Record from 1979 to 1981, WPRO regional reports from 1980, and United States DoD (Health.mil) publications. Key phrases and citation patterns were traced through academic literature and publicly available websites from 1990 to 2023. Official ROK’s government documents were examined for any evidence indicating WHO certification of malaria elimination in the ROK.
WHO records explicitly identify DPRK as a country where malaria had been eliminated by 1979. In contrast, ROK was described as having reached low levels of incidence but had not achieved elimination (Table 1). A 2009 Health.mil article from the United States DoD mistakenly stated that WHO had declared ROK malaria-free in 1979, likely due to misinterpretation of the generic term “Korea” and incorrect reading of WHO data referring to DPRK (Table 2). This erroneous claim subsequently spread across Korean and international academic publications and became entrenched within online databases (Table 3).
WHO and WPRO documents from 1979 through 1980 consistently differentiate malaria elimination status in DPRK from the situation in ROK. Despite this clarity, a 2009 United States DoD publication misattributed DPRK’s elimination status to ROK. This mistake was later incorporated into ROK health publications and circulated widely through internet sources such as Wikipedia. Importantly, examination of Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency archives and related reports reveals no evidence of any WHO declaration or certification indicating that ROK eliminated malaria.
Even prior to the United States DoD’s mistranslation in 2009, the reasons behind the spread of the inaccurate belief that the ROK was certified malaria-free by WHO in 1979 were difficult to trace. A domestic academic paper from 2000, likely the earliest known reference, stated that “it was declared eradicated in 1979 (WHO, 1981),” reflecting a misreading of data that referred to DPRK rather than ROK. Similar to the later misinterpretation by the United States DoD, this citation error has been repeated for years without correction.
However, the persistence of this misinformation until recently suggests that the authoritative reputation of the United States DoD may have substantially contributed to the ongoing acceptance and dissemination of the incorrect claim.
There is no evidence that WHO declared ROK malaria-free in 1979. WHO documentation confirms that only DPRK received malaria elimination status at that time. The misattribution appears to have originated from confusion within United States military communications and was later reinforced by unchecked academic and digital citations. ROK’s governmental agencies have never published any indication of WHO verification of malaria elimination for ROK. Correcting the historical record requires institutional transparency and more rigorous citation practices to prevent the continuation of such errors.

Conflict of interest

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare for this study.

Funding

None.

Acknowledgements

None.

Author contributions

Both authors contributed equally to conceiving the study, analyzing the data, and writing this paper.

Table 1.
WHO and WPRO official recognition status: a comparison of primary sources
Source Year DPRK (North Korea) ROK (South Korea) Notes
WHO record [1] 1979 DPRK naturally malaria-free or have eradicated malaria. Not mentioned in malaria-free list DPRK implied via regional report wording
WHO/WPRO report [2] 1980 Not applicable (DPRK is not a WPRO member state) “Low incidence in ROK; elimination not achieved” WPRO evaluates only ROK, not DPRK

WHO, World Health Organization; WPRO, Western Pacific Regional Office; DPRK, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea; ROK, Republic of Korea.

Table 2.
Source of misattribution: misreading of WHO data by United States DoD and others
Year Source Reported statement Actual WHO position Misattribution type
2007 [3] Health.mil (DoD) “WHO declared ROK malaria-free in 1979” WHO never declared ROK malaria-free DPRK misread as ROK
2010s [4] USFK briefings, DoD derivatives Korea declared malaria-free in late 1970s DPRK only; ROK explicitly not eliminated in 1980 WPRO Regional ambiguity and institutional repetition

WHO, World Health Organization; DoD, Department of Defense; DPRK, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea; ROK, Republic of Korea; WPRO, Western Pacific Regional Office; USFK, United States Forces Korea.

Table 3.
Chronology of citation errors in academic and internet sources
Year Source Citation / Statement Comment
2000 Ree HI, Korean J Parasitol [5] “Malaria was declared eradicated in 1979 (WHO, 1981)” WHO WER 1981, misreading
2003 Park JW et al., Am J Trop Med Hyg [6] “ROK, was endemic on the Korean Peninsula for many centuries until the late 1970s, when the ROK was declared malaria free (WHO, 1981)” WHO WER 1981, misreading
2009 Military Health System (USA DoD) [4] WHO declared ROK malaria-free in 1979 Institutional misstatement
Park JW et al., Korean J Parasitol [7] “ROK was finally declared malaria-free in 1979” WHO WER 1981, misreading
Kim HC et al., Mil Med [8] “Malaria was eradicated and the ROK declared “malaria free” in 1979” WHO WER 1981, misreading
2013 Kim TS et al., Malar J [9] ...in 1979 when WHO declared the ROK to be malaria free” WHO WER 1981, misreading
2018 Bahk YY et al., Korean J Parasitol [10] In 1979, the WHO officially certified that Korea was a malaria-free country No primary WHO source referenced
2010s Wikipedia ROK declared malaria-free in 1979 No WHO citation
2020s Online blogs Repetition of above claims Copied from earlier errors

WHO, World Health Organization; WER, Weekly Epidemiological Record; ROK, Republic of Korea.

  • 1. World Health Organization. Synopsis of the world malaria situation in 1979. Wkly Epidemiol Rec 1981;56:145-149.
  • 2. World Health Organization Western Pacific Regional Office. Regional Committee thirty-first session Manila, Philippines, 9-15 Sep 1980 Provisional agenda item 27: control of malaria in the western pacific region with special reference to the malaria risk for international travelers; WPR/RC31/36 [cited 2025 Jul 10]. Available from: https://iris.who.int/server/api/core/bitstreams/df5be451-fe6e-42ea-b259-0af9b30ad8e0/content
  • 3. Armed Forces Health Surveillance Division. Korea-acquired malaria, U.S. Armed Forces, January 1998–October 2007. Med Surveill Mon Rep 2007;14:1-5.
  • 4. Fukuda MM, Wojnarski M, Martin N, Zottig V, Waters NC. Malaria in the Korean Peninsula: risk factors, latent infections, and the possible role of tafenoquine, a new antimalarial weapon. Med Surveill Mon Rep 2018;25:1-3.
  • 5. Ree HI. Unstable vivax malaria in Korea. Korean J Parasitol 2000;38:119-138. https://doi.org/10.3347/kjp.2000.38.3.119ArticlePubMedPMC
  • 6. Park JW, Klein TA, Lee HC, Pacha LA, Ryu SH, Yeom JS, et al. Vivax malaria: a continuing health threat to the Republic of Korea. Am J Trop Med Hyg 2003;69:159-167. https://doi.org/10.4269/ajtmh.2003.69.159ArticlePubMed
  • 7. Park JW, Jun G, Yeom JS. Plasmodium vivax malaria: status in the Republic of Korea following reemergence. Korean J Parasitol 2009;47 Suppl:S39-S50. https://doi.org/10.3347/kjp.2009.47.S.S39ArticlePubMedPMC
  • 8. Kim HC, Pacha LA, Lee WJ, Lee JK, Gaydos JC, Sames WJ, et al. Malaria in the Republic of Korea, 1993-2007. Variables related to re-emergence and persistence of Plasmodium vivax among Korean populations and U.S. forces in Korea. Mil Med 2009;174:762-769. https://doi.org/10.7205/milmed-d-01-6208ArticlePubMed
  • 9. Kim TS, Kim JS, Na BK, Lee WJ, Kim HC, Youn SK, et al. Decreasing incidence of Plasmodium vivax in the Republic of Korea during 2010-2012. Malar J 2013;12:309. https://doi.org/10.1186/1475-2875-12-309ArticlePubMedPMC
  • 10. Bahk YY, Lee HW, Na BK, Kim J, Jin K, Hong YS, et al. Epidemiological characteristics of re-emerging vivax malaria in the republic of Korea (1993-2017). Korean J Parasitol 2018;56:531-543. https://doi.org/10.3347/kjp.2018.56.6.531ArticlePubMedPMC

Figure & Data

References

    Citations

    Citations to this article as recorded by  

      Misattribution of Korea’s malaria elimination status in 1979
      Misattribution of Korea’s malaria elimination status in 1979
      Source Year DPRK (North Korea) ROK (South Korea) Notes
      WHO record [1] 1979 DPRK naturally malaria-free or have eradicated malaria. Not mentioned in malaria-free list DPRK implied via regional report wording
      WHO/WPRO report [2] 1980 Not applicable (DPRK is not a WPRO member state) “Low incidence in ROK; elimination not achieved” WPRO evaluates only ROK, not DPRK
      Year Source Reported statement Actual WHO position Misattribution type
      2007 [3] Health.mil (DoD) “WHO declared ROK malaria-free in 1979” WHO never declared ROK malaria-free DPRK misread as ROK
      2010s [4] USFK briefings, DoD derivatives Korea declared malaria-free in late 1970s DPRK only; ROK explicitly not eliminated in 1980 WPRO Regional ambiguity and institutional repetition
      Year Source Citation / Statement Comment
      2000 Ree HI, Korean J Parasitol [5] “Malaria was declared eradicated in 1979 (WHO, 1981)” WHO WER 1981, misreading
      2003 Park JW et al., Am J Trop Med Hyg [6] “ROK, was endemic on the Korean Peninsula for many centuries until the late 1970s, when the ROK was declared malaria free (WHO, 1981)” WHO WER 1981, misreading
      2009 Military Health System (USA DoD) [4] WHO declared ROK malaria-free in 1979 Institutional misstatement
      Park JW et al., Korean J Parasitol [7] “ROK was finally declared malaria-free in 1979” WHO WER 1981, misreading
      Kim HC et al., Mil Med [8] “Malaria was eradicated and the ROK declared “malaria free” in 1979” WHO WER 1981, misreading
      2013 Kim TS et al., Malar J [9] ...in 1979 when WHO declared the ROK to be malaria free” WHO WER 1981, misreading
      2018 Bahk YY et al., Korean J Parasitol [10] In 1979, the WHO officially certified that Korea was a malaria-free country No primary WHO source referenced
      2010s Wikipedia ROK declared malaria-free in 1979 No WHO citation
      2020s Online blogs Repetition of above claims Copied from earlier errors
      Table 1. WHO and WPRO official recognition status: a comparison of primary sources

      WHO, World Health Organization; WPRO, Western Pacific Regional Office; DPRK, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea; ROK, Republic of Korea.

      Table 2. Source of misattribution: misreading of WHO data by United States DoD and others

      WHO, World Health Organization; DoD, Department of Defense; DPRK, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea; ROK, Republic of Korea; WPRO, Western Pacific Regional Office; USFK, United States Forces Korea.

      Table 3. Chronology of citation errors in academic and internet sources

      WHO, World Health Organization; WER, Weekly Epidemiological Record; ROK, Republic of Korea.

      Table 1.

      Table 2.

      Table 3.

      Epidemiol Health : Epidemiology and Health
      © Korean Society of Epidemiology.
      TOP