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HEALTH-VIRUS-NKOREA
Kim warns of ‘serious consequences’ if virus reaches North Korea
SEOUL, Feb 29, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un warned top
party officials of the “serious consequences” of failing to prevent an
outbreak of the new coronavirus in the country, state media reported
Saturday.
The impoverished nation, with a weak and ill-equipped healthcare system,
has closed its borders to prevent the spread of the disease into its
territory.
Kim told a meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea that the fight
against the virus was a “crucial state affair for the defence of the people”
that required maximum discipline, according to the official Korean Central
News Agency (KCNA).
“In case the infectious disease spreading beyond control finds its way
into our country, it will entail serious consequences,” KCNA quoted Kim as
saying.
Two senior officials — party vice-chairmen Ri Man Gon and Pak Thae Dok —
were sacked, and a party unit disbanded for corruption, the report said,
indicating that they may have been involved in graft linked with the anti-
epidemic measures.
“No special cases must be allowed,” he added, and ordered officials to
“seal off all the channels and space through which the infectious disease may
find its way”.
Pyongyang has not reported a single case of COVID-19, which has killed
more than 2,800 people and infected over 84,000 people in dozens of countries
since it emerged in neighbouring China.
North Korea has banned tourists, suspended international trains and
flights and placed hundreds of foreigners in quarantine to prevent an
outbreak. It has also reportedly postponed the new school term.
With loudspeakers blaring hygiene messages, ambassadors locked in their
compounds, and state media demanding “absolute obedience”, North Korea’s
anti-coronavirus measures have been described as “unprecedented” by
diplomats.
South Korea, meanwhile, is battling a major outbreak of the virus with
more than 2,300 cases — the highest number outside mainland China.
Germany’s ambassador to the United Nations has said the Security Council
would adopt humanitarian exemptions to the sanctions imposed on Pyongyang
over its weapons programmes, and allow the export of equipment to help North
Korea fight the coronavirus.
But “the problem is that right now the North Koreans closed the borders,”
Christoph Heusgen said Thursday after a closed-door Security Council meeting
about the reclusive state.
The members of the Security Council called on North Korea “to allow this
equipment in. So the population can be protected,” he added, without
elaborating on the type of equipment.
BSS/AFP/SSS/0941 hrs