North Korea's Kim says 'great crisis' caused by pandemic lapse
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[June 30, 2021]
By Josh Smith
SEOUL (Reuters) -North Korean leader Kim
Jong Un said the failure to implement measures to tackle the coronavirus
had caused a "great crisis" and he chastised ruling party officials for
risking the safety of the country and people, state media reported on
Wednesday.
The report by state news agency KCNA did not elaborate on the nature of
the crisis or how it put people at risk.
North Korea has not officially confirmed any COVID-19 cases, a position
questioned by South Korean and U.S. officials. But the reclusive country
has imposed strict anti-virus measures, including border closures and
domestic travel curbs.
Kim called a meeting of the Workers' Party of Korea politburo to address
some party executives' neglect of duty, including failing to implement
important long-term measures to fight the pandemic, the KCNA state news
agency said.
"He mentioned that senior officials in charge of important state affairs
neglected the implementation of the important decisions of the Party ...
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 news agency said.
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Several politburo members, secretaries of the central committee, and
officials of several state agencies were replaced at the meeting, though
KCNA did not specify if the shakeups were related to the neglect of
pandemic-related duty.
When asked about Kim's remarks, South Korean Vice Foreign Minister Choi
Jong-kun said officials in Seoul were aware of the report but had
nothing to add.
"During this pandemic era we have publicly expressed our willingness to
help (North Korea) ranging from PCR tests to whatever you can imagine,"
he told reporters at a briefing.
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![](../images/063021pics/news_p23.jpg)
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attends a plenary meeting of the
Workers' Party central committee in Pyongyang, North Korea in this
photo supplied by North Korea's Central News Agency (KCNA) on
February 10, 2021. KCNA via REUTERS
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North Korea has treated the protection of its people
from the coronavirus as a matter of national survival and
anti-pandemic decisions are made by some of its most senior leaders,
said Harvard Medical School’s Kee B. Park, who has worked on health
care projects in North Korea.
"The main objective of North Korea’s strategy is to prevent the
virus from even getting into the country while simultaneously
strengthening its treatment capabilities as well as acquiring
vaccines," he said.
North Korea’s all-of-government, comprehensive approach and the
repeated holding of large-scale public gatherings suggest that it
may have prevented any major outbreak, Park said.
"However, the success comes with steep cost to its economy and
increased vulnerability for the poorest of the population," he said.
Last year, North Korea said it had declared a state of emergency and
locked down the border city of Kaesong after a person who defected
to South Korea three years ago returned across the fortified border
with what state media said were symptoms of COVID-19.
The World Health Organization later said North Korea's coronavirus
test results for the man were inconclusive.
(Reporting by Josh Smith; Additional reporting by Hyonhee Shin, Jack
Kim and Sangmi Cha; Editing by Grant McCool, Himani Sarkar and Raju
Gopalakrishnan)
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