NORTH KOREAN authorities have imposed a lockdown on the border city of Kaesong after discovering what they say is the country’s first suspected coronavirus case, state media reported yesterday. Leader Kim Jong Un convened an emergency politburo meeting Saturday to implement a “maximum emergency system and issue a top-class alert” to contain the virus, the official Korean Central News Agency said. If confirmed, it would be the first officially recognized case of COVID-19 in North Korea, where medical infrastructure is seen as woefully inadequate to deal with any epidemic. KCNA said a defector who had left for South Korea three years ago returned July 19 after “illegally crossing” the heavily fortified border dividing the two countries. It is very rare for anyone to leave the South through what is one of the world’s most secure borders, replete with minefields and guard posts. But the South Korean military said there was a “high possibility” that a defector had recently returned. A 24-year-old man is believed to have swum back to the North after being investigated for rape allegations in the South, according to multiple media reports and defectors. Pyongyang previously insisted that not a single case of the coronavirus had been seen in the North despite the pandemic sweeping the globe, and the country’s borders remain closed. The patient was found in Kaesong City, which borders South Korea, and “was put under strict quarantine,” as would any close contacts, KCNA said. It was a “dangerous situation... that may lead to a deadly and destructive disaster,” the agency added. Kim was quoted as saying “the vicious virus could be said to have entered the country,” and officials Friday took the “preemptive measure of totally blocking Kaesong City.” (SD-Agencies) |