Kim Jong Un Declares North Korea A COVID-19 Emergency

Kim Jong Un declares emergency status after COVID-19 enters North Korea's border (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un declared a state of emergency after a person suspected of being infected with COVID-19 returned from South Korea after illegally crossing the border. North Korea immediately organized a politburo meeting and held a lockup in the border town of Kaesong.

If confirmed, it will be the first to be formally recognized by North Korean authorities. The reason is, so far they claim that no one has COVID-19 in the country.

Jong Un declared this emergency status as "a precarious situation in which a malignant virus can be said to have entered the country", as reported by Antara from KCNA (North Korea's central news agency).

KCNA reports that a person who defected to South Korea three years ago returned to cross the border, which separates the two Koreas, with symptoms similar to COVID-19.

"An emergency incident occurred in Kaesong City, where a person who fled to South Korea three years ago, who was suspected of being infected with the virulent virus returned on July 19 after illegally crossing the demarcation line," KCNA said.

The KCNA did not specify whether the person had been tested, but said "uncertain results were obtained from medical examinations of secretions from the person's respiratory organs and blood, prompting officials to quarantine the person and investigate anyone who may have had contact with him.

North Korea has received thousands of COVID-19 test kits from Russia and other countries and has tightly closed its borders. Thousands of people in North Korea are undergoing quarantine but the authorities have recently relaxed restrictions on COVID-19.