# Misattribution of Korea’s malaria elimination status in 1979

## TL;DR

This paper corrects a long-standing mistake that wrongly claimed South Korea was declared malaria-free in 1979 by the WHO.

## Contribution

The study identifies and traces the origin of a misattribution in global health records and calls for improved citation practices.

## Key findings

- The 1979 malaria elimination status was mistakenly attributed to South Korea instead of North Korea.
- U.S. DoD documents and subsequent citations incorrectly propagated this error.
- WHO records from 1980 confirm that South Korea was not declared malaria-free by that time.

## Abstract

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.