In photos, North Korea’s Kim still wears no mask as coronavirus pandemic ‘threatens whole mankind’
- Officials in Pyongyang and its state media have repeatedly insisted that the North remains totally free of the virus
- Leader Kim Jong-un, often pictured not wearing masks, presided over meeting that called for stronger measures against the pandemic
North Korea called for tougher and more thorough countermeasures to keep citizens safe from the fast-spreading coronavirus at a meeting where leader Kim Jong-un presided, state media said on Sunday.
North Korea continues testing for the virus, with more than 500 people in quarantine, but has no confirmed infections yet, a country representative of the World Health Organisation told Reuters.
Officials in Pyongyang and its state media have repeatedly insisted that the North remains totally free of the virus, but Sunday’s report did not make that assertion.
The coronavirus epidemic – which has infected more than 1.7 million worldwide – had become “a great disaster threatening the whole mankind, regardless of borders and continents”, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.
“Such environment can become a condition creating some obstacles to our struggle and progress,” it said, adding Pyongyang maintained “very stable anti-epidemic situation”.
KCNA said the virus had created obstacles to work on the economy, but the North had enforced consistent and compulsory “strict top-class emergency anti-epidemic measures” to maintain a stable situation.
At a meeting on Saturday, the political bureau of the central committee of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea adopted a resolution to take “more thorough state measures” to protect people’s lives and safety against the pandemic, KCNA added, without acknowledging whether the country had reported any infections.
It also aimed to step up emergency services nationwide against the outbreak and push ahead with economic construction, increasing the national defence capability and stabilising people’s livelihoods this year, the agency said.
But state media photographs showed that none of those at the meeting, including Kim, wore masks or sat unusually far apart from each other.
Neighbouring South Korea reported 32 new infections by the end of Saturday, taking its tally to 10,512, with three more deaths for a total of 214, the Korea Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said.
KCNA said part of Saturday’s agenda was to have been presented to a meeting of the Supreme People’s Assembly, initially set for Friday, but it was not clear if the larger body had already met, or if not, when it is scheduled to do so.
Kim Yo-jong, Kim Jong-un’s sister and a senior government official, was elected an alternate member of the Political Bureau, KCNA added.
In a separate report on Sunday, KCNA said Kim Jong-un expressed satisfaction at a drill of North Korea’s pursuit assault aircraft that he oversaw, but suggested important tasks to “further enhance combat efficiency”.
Agency photographs of the event showed some military officials wearing masks at the airfield, but not Kim.
Experts have said North Korea is particularly vulnerable to the virus because of its weak health care system, and defectors have accused Pyongyang of covering up an outbreak.
The already isolated, nuclear-armed North quickly shut down its borders after the virus was first detected in neighbouring China in January, and imposed strict containment measures.
Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse
