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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un declared victory over COVID-19 at a national meeting in which his sister, in a particularly combative speech, claimed that Kim himself had had a fever and blamed South Korea for dubious blame. epidemic swearing deadly retaliation.
The official North Korean central news agency said Thursday that Kim ordered a relaxation of preventive measures just three months after the country first recognized an outbreak, arguing that the country’s widely disputed success would be recognized as a miracle of global health.
Seeing a speech on TV for the first time, her powerful sister said Kim had had a fever while glorifying her “epic” leadership and blamed the North Korean outbreak on flyers flown across the border from the country. South Korea.
North Korea’s claims about its outbreak are widely questioned and are thought to aim to help Kim maintain absolute control of the country. Some experts believe the victory declaration signals Kim’s intention to move to other priorities, but are concerned that her sister’s remarks portend provocation.
In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un speaks during a “maximum emergency meeting against the epidemic” in Pyongyang, North Korea on Wednesday, August 10, 2022.
(Korean Central News Agency / Korean News Service via AP)
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South Korea’s Unification Ministry, which deals with inter-Korean affairs, issued a statement expressing strong regret at North Korea’s “extremely disrespectful and threatening comments” based on “ridiculous claims” about the source of its infections.
North Korea first suggested in July that its COVID-19 outbreak began in people who had come into contact with objects carried by balloons flown from South Korea, a questionable and unscientific claim that seemed be an attempt to hold his rival accountable.
Since North Korea admitted an omicron outbreak of the virus in May, it has reported an estimated 4.8 million “fever cases” in its population of 26 million, but has identified only a fraction of them as COVID-19. He said the outbreak has slowed for weeks and only 74 people have died.
“Since we launched the maximum emergency anti-epidemic campaign (in May), the daily fever cases that reached hundreds of thousands during the first days of the epidemic have been reduced to less than 90,000 a month later and have continuously decreased, and not a single case of fever suspected of being linked to the evil virus has been reported since July 29, ”Kim said in his speech Wednesday at a nationwide meeting where he announced a new response to the pandemic.
“For a country that has yet to administer a single vaccine, our success in overcoming the spread of the disease in such a short period of time and in regaining public health safety and making our nation a clean and free zone again virus is an amazing miracle that would have been recorded in world public health history, “he said, according to KCNA.
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 on Wednesday, August 10, 2022.
(Korean Central News Agency / Korean News Service via AP)
The fact that Kim declares victory over COVID-19 suggests that he wants to move on to other priorities, such as promoting a destroyed and heavily sanctioned economy further damaged by closing pandemic borders or conducting a nuclear test, said Leif-Eric Easley, professor of international studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul.
South Korean and U.S. officials said North Korea could prepare for its first nuclear test in five years amidst its torrid weapons test series this year which included its first ICBM demonstrations since 2017.
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The provocative testing activity underscores Kim’s dual intent to advance his arsenal and pressure the Biden administration for long-stalled negotiations aimed at exploiting its nuclear weapons to secure much needed sanctions and security concessions, the officials say. experts.
Kim Jun-rak, a spokesman for South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Thursday that the South Korean military was steadfastly keeping ready and prepared for “various possibilities” of North Korean provocations.
Kim Yo Jong’s belligerent rhetoric is worrying because it indicates that he will try to blame any COVID-19 resurgence in the south and is also trying to justify North Korea’s next military provocation, Easley said.
Activists have flown balloons across the border for years to distribute hundreds of thousands of propaganda leaflets critical of Kim, and North Korea has often expressed anger at activists and the South Korean leadership for not stopping them.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, center, poses for a group photo with fighter pilots who flew the demonstration flight at the inauguration of a weapons systems exhibition in Pyongyang, North Korea, on Monday. (Korean Central News Agency / Korean News Service via AP)
(AP)
During Wednesday’s meeting, Kim Yo Jong reiterated these claims, calling the country’s virus crisis a “hysterical farce” initiated by South Korea to escalate the clash.
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“The puppets (South Koreans) are still pushing leaflets and dirty objects into our territory. We have to strongly oppose it,” he said. “We have already considered various countermeasures, but our countermeasure must be deadly retaliation.”
North Korean state TV showed members of an audience of thousands crying as he spoke of his brother’s alleged fever, a reference that was not further explained. The crowd cheered and cheered as he promised that the North would “eradicate not only the virus but also the (South Korean) government authorities” if the “enemies continue to carry out dangerous acts that could introduce the virus into our republic.”
While Kim Yo Jong has made many speeches and statements in recent years as one of the most powerful members of her brother’s ruling circle, Thursday marked the first time North Korean media has broadcast video and audio of her delivering an entire speech, he stated the Ministry of Unification of South Korea. Highlighting her speech in the state media reflects her growing status of her and could be aimed at emphasizing the threat communicated to the south.
North Korea’s claim on how the outbreak began contradicts external experts who believe the omicron variant spread when the country briefly reopened its border with China to freight traffic in January and further intensified following a a military parade and other large-scale events in Pyongyang in April.
In May, Kim Jong Un banned travel between cities and counties to slow the spread of the virus. But he also stressed that his economic goals should be met, which means that huge groups continued to congregate on agricultural, industrial and construction sites.
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At the virus meeting, 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 and monkeypox variants.
