Kim marks N. Korea war date
He reportedly put border city on lockdown after virus found
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has visited a national cemetery and handed out commemorative pistols to army officers, state media reported Monday, as he pushes to muster public support for efforts to contain a potential coronavirus outbreak.
On Sunday, North Korea said that Kim had put a city near the border with South Korea under lockdown and declared a state of emergency after a person with suspected COVID-19 symptoms was recently found there. If the person is diagnosed with the coronavirus, it will be North Korea’s first officially confirmed case, though many outside experts believe the virus has already spread to the country.
The North’s official Korean Central News Agency reported that Kim visited a cemetery on the outskirts of Pyongyang where Korean War dead are buried to mark the 67th anniversary of the end of the 1950-53 war. Kim laid a single rose and bowed before a big monument at the Fatherland Liberation War Martyrs Cemetery, according to KCNA. It didn’t say exactly when Kim went there.
A 1953 armistice that ended the war has yet to be replaced with a peace treaty, leaving the Korean Peninsula in a technical state of war. North Korea considers the armistice signing as a victory and often uses the anniversary as a chance to promote nationalism.
KCNA also reported that Kim gave “Paektusan” commemorative pistols, named after the sacred peak on the peninsula, to senior military officials during a ceremony Sunday marking the war anniversary. State media photos showed a beaming Kim sitting while surrounded by army officers holding black pistols.
Kim is in need of stronger internal unity as he struggles to withstand crippling U.s.-led sanctions and the coronavirus pandemic, which forced him in January to close the North’s border with China, its biggest trading partner and aid benefactor.
While announcing the Kaesong city lockdown, North Korea’s state media reported that the suspected virus patient had fled to South Korea three years ago before illegally slipping back to the North last week.
Some experts say North Korea was aiming to hold South Korea responsible for a virus spread and apply more pressure on its rival. Others say the North may be trying to find an excuse to win anti-virus aid items from South Korea.
South Korean officials said their investigation into who crossed the border into the North has been narrowed to a single person. Health official Yoon Taeho separately said that the person has never been listed as a virus patient in South Korea.