Addressing a meeting of health workers and scientists, Kim Yo Jong blamed the country’s COVID outbreak on South Korea and warned of ‘retaliation’
In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un shakes hands with a health official in Pyongyang, North Korea, Wednesday, 10 August. AP
New Delhi: North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s sister Kim Yo Jong on Thursday revealed that his brother had fallen ill during the outbreak of COVID-19 in the country, which she blamed on Seoul, state media said.
She was speaking at a national meeting along with his brother where he declared a “shining victory” over COVID-19. Addressing a meeting of health workers and scientists, Kim announced a “victory… in the war against the malignant pandemic disease”, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.
Kim fell ill with a “high fever” but refused to rest while the country battled the virus, his powerful sister Kim Yo Jong told the meeting as officials in the audience wept, a KCTV broadcast showed.
The isolated nation, which has maintained a rigid blockade since the start of the pandemic, confirmed an Omicron outbreak in the capital Pyongyang in May and activated a “maximum emergency epidemic prevention system”.
North Korea refers to “fever patients” rather than “COVID patients” in case reports, apparently due to a lack of testing capacity. It has recorded nearly 4.8 million “fever” infections and just 74 deaths for an official fatality rate of 0.002 percent, according to state media. It has reported no new cases since 29 July.
This handling of the pandemic “is a miracle unprecedented in the world’s public health history,” Kim said to thunderous applause, according to KCNA. “The victory gained by our people is a historic event.”
Kim called for the easing of preventive measures and for the nation to maintain vigilance and effective border controls, citing the global spread of new coronavirus variants and monkeypox.
Kim’s ‘high fever’
KCTV had never before aired a speech by “first sister” Kim Yo Jong, who made an impassioned address, the broadcast showed.
Kim Jong-un “was suffering from high fever during the days of this anti-epidemic war, but he could not lie down for a moment as he was thinking about the people he was responsible for”, his sister said.
This is the first time North Korea has indicated its leader — whose health is the subject of extraordinarily close scrutiny by analysts — had been infected by the coronavirus.
As Kim Yo Jong talked about her brother’s health, the camera cut to uniformed officials in the audience wiping away tears or openly weeping.
South Korea to blame
She also claimed the country’s COVID outbreak was caused by South Korea, warning of “retaliation”.
North Korea has previously said that “alien things” near the border with the South caused the isolated country’s COVID outbreak, a claim Seoul has rejected.
Despite a ban that took effect in 2021, South Korean activists have for years flown balloons containing propaganda leaflets and US dollars over the border, which Pyongyang has long protested against.
Kim Yo Jong said such actions were a “crime against humanity” and that Pyongyang was considering “a strong retaliatory response”.
But North Korea’s claim about how the outbreak started contradicts outside experts who believe the omicron variant spread when the country briefly reopened its border with China to freight traffic in January and surged further following a military parade and other large-scale events in Pyongyang in April.
In May, Kim Jong Un prohibited travel between cities and counties to slow the spread of the virus. But he also stressed that his economic goals should be met, which meant huge groups continued to gather at agricultural, industrial and construction sites.
Seoul’s Unification Ministry on Thursday said North Korea was repeating a “groundless claim” and expressed regret that Pyongyang was making “rude and threatening remarks”.
Nuclear test in the offing?
Analysts said that the victory declaration indicated North Korea was looking to move on to other priorities “such as boosting the economy or conducting a nuclear test,” said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul.
“Kim Yo Jong’s bellicose rhetoric is concerning because not only will she try to blame any COVID resurgence on South Korea, she is also looking to justify North Korea’s next military provocation,” he added.
Experts, including the World Health Organization, have long questioned Pyongyang’s COVID statistics and claims to have brought the outbreak under control. The country has one of the world’s worst healthcare systems, with poorly equipped hospitals, few intensive care units and no COVID treatment drugs, experts say.
It is not believed to have vaccinated any of its 25 million population, although it may have received some vaccines from China, Seoul-based specialist site NK News has reported.
South Korea — with its advanced healthcare and highly vaccinated population — has a coronavirus fatality rate of 0.12 per cent, according to official data — significantly higher than that reported in the North.
With input from agencies
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