Coronavirus: North Korea to convene legislative session amid pandemic
- Ahead of the session, leader Kim Jong-un guided a military drill to ‘further fortify the country’s defence capabilities’, state media said
- Pyongyang claims no one in the nation has been sickened with the coronavirus so far
Foreign affairs experts say the drill may have been aimed at showing to the world that North Korea has successfully warded off the virus and can afford to work to boost its military capabilities.
The Friday edition of the Rodong Sinmun, the newspaper of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea, ran photos showing Kim and military officials around him not wearing face masks.
North Korea is believed to be vulnerable to infectious diseases, against a backdrop of chronic shortages of food and medical supplies triggered by economic sanctions aimed at thwarting Pyongyang’s nuclear and ballistic missile ambitions.
In the past, North Korea barred foreigners from entering the nation during the 2003 epidemic of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or Sars, and the Ebola outbreak in West Africa in 2014.
