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DUBAI: South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha on Saturday (December 5) questioned North Korea’s claim that it has no coronavirus cases, while offering the South’s help to fight the pandemic.
In an unusually clear official statement, Kang told the annual IISS Manama Dialogue security conference that Pyongyang has not responded much to Seoul’s offer of help.
“They still say they don’t have any cases, which is hard to believe,” Kang said. “All the signs are that the regimen is very focused on controlling the disease they say they don’t have, so it’s a bit of a strange situation.”
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In its most recent weekly report to the World Health Organization, North Korea said it had no confirmed cases of coronavirus, although it cited 8,594 “suspected cases.”
The pandemic has further isolated North Korea, which has moved toward top-down decision-making where little is discussed about the country’s measures to address COVID-19, Kang said.
North Korea’s state news agency KCNA said this week that the country has imposed “first-class emergency measures” to prevent the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 from making inroads into the country, making rigorous anti-virus efforts.
South Korea’s National Intelligence Service has said that an outbreak in the North cannot be ruled out, as the country had commercial and interpersonal exchanges with China, where the disease emerged a year ago, before closing the border in late January.
Analysts said an outbreak could be devastating for the economically and politically isolated country.
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