Seoul reports panic buying in N. Korea

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA— The coronavirus pandemic has likely taken a heavy toll on North Korea, forcing leader Kim Jong Un to avoid public activities and his people into panic buying for daily necessities, South Korea’s spy agency told lawmakers Wednesday.

Although North Korea has taken intense quarantine measures, it maintains there are no domestic infections. Many outside experts are skeptical and warn that an epidemic could be dire because of the North’s fragile health-care system.

South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) told a closed-door parliamentary committee in Seoul that the pandemic is one of the reasons why Kim Jong Un has made much fewer public appearances this year, according to Kim Byung Kee, one of the lawmakers who attended the spy agency meeting.

As of Wednesday, Kim Jong Un appeared in public 17 times this year, compared with an average of 50 appearances in the same time period each year since he took power in late 2011, the lawmaker said, citing the NIS.

The NIS said it cannot rule out a virus outbreak in North Korea because traffic along the ChinaNorth Korea border was active before the North closed crossings in January to try to stop the spread of the virus, according to the lawmaker.

The NIS declined to confirm Kim Byung Kee’s comments in line with its practice of not commenting on information it provides to lawmakers. Kim Byung Kee did not discuss how the NIS obtained its information.