DPRK declares state of emergency after Kaesong city reports suspected COVID-19 case

PYONGYANG - Kim Jong Un, the top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), declared a state of emergency in Kaesong after the border city reported a suspected case of COVID-19, said Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Sunday.

"There happened a critical situation in which the vicious virus could be said to have entered the country," Kim said on Saturday as he presided over an emergency enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party.

Kim noted that he took preemptive measures on Saturday to completely block Kaesong city and isolate each district and region immediately after the case was reported.

Given the dangerous situation in Kaesong city, Kim said he has decided to shift from the state emergency anti-epidemic system to the maximum emergency system and issue a top-class alert.

According to the KCNA report, all those who had contacted the suspected case and those who had been to Kaesong city in the past five days will be given medical examination and put under quarantine.

The suspected case, a defector who returned to the DPRK city of Kaesong from South Korea on July 19 after illegally crossing the demarcation line, was put under strict quarantine as a primary step, said the KCNA.

So far, the DPRK has not reported any confirmed case of COVID-19.