North Korean leader admits serious coronavirus-related incident — agency
The North Korean government claims the country has remained COVID-free since the start of the pandemic, thanks to the timely closure of borders and tough sanitary measures
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has admitted that a serious incident related to anti-coronavirus efforts has occurred in the country, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said on Wednesday citing a report by North Korea’s official news agency KCNA.
According to the report, Kim Jong-un informed the extended politburo meeting of the country’s ruling Workers' Party on Tuesday that a serious incident related to containing the novel coronavirus infection has taken place in the country, and may trigger a great security crisis for the republic and its population.
"Senior officials in charge of important state affairs neglected the implementation of the important decisions of the party on taking organizational, institutional, material, scientific and technological measures ... associated with the worldwide health crisis, and thus caused a crucial case of creating a great crisis in ensuring the security of the state and safety of the people and entailed grave consequences," the agency quoted Kim as saying.
During his speech, the North Korean leader said that "a major factor braking and hindering the implementation of the important tasks discussed and decided at the party congress and plenary meetings of the party is the lack of ability and irresponsibility of cadres." In this regard, he urged to step up the campaign against "ideological faults and all sorts of negative elements."
No details about the incident are known at the moment.
The North Korean government claims the country has remained COVID-free since the start of the pandemic, thanks to the timely closure of borders and tough sanitary measures.