Virus blamed for Kim’s absence
THE Covid-19 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 yesterday.
Although the country had taken intense quarantine measures, it maintains there were no domestic infections. Many outside experts are sceptical and warn that an epidemic could be dire because of the country’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 has made fewer public appearances this year, according to Kim Byung-kee, one of the lawmakers who attended the spy agency meeting.
As of yesterday, Kim Jong-un had 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.
The NIS said could not rule out a virus outbreak in North Korea, because traffic along the China-North 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’s comments in line with its practice of not commenting on information it provides to lawmakers. Kim did not discuss how the NIS obtained its information.
Last week Kim Jong-un ended his 20-day public absence when he appeared at a ceremony marking the completion of a fertiliser factory near Pyongyang.
His time away triggered rumours about his health and worries about the future of his country.
The NIS repeated a South Korean government assessment that Kim remained in charge of state affairs, even during his absence.
The NIS said the pandemic was hurting North Korea’s economy, mainly because of the border closure with China, its biggest trading partner and aid provider. China accounts for about 90% of North Korea’s external trade flow. This led to the price of imported foodstuffs such as sugar and seasonings rocketing, Kim Byung-kee quoted the spy agency as saying.
He said the NIS also told lawmakers that residents in Pyongyang, the capital, recently rushed to department stores and other shops to stock up on daily necessities and waited in long queues.
The NIS said prices in North Korea “are being stabilised a little bit” after the authorities clamped down on people cornering the market, Kim said.
Meanwhile, a report from a Washington-based think-tank said that a new facility near Pyongyang International Airport is almost certainly linked to North Korea’s expanding ballistic missile programme.