Seoul: North Korea’s No. 2 leader Choe Ryong-hae visited Kaesong to inspect anti-coronavirus efforts, state media reported on Thursday, after leader Kim Jong-un sealed off the border city over COVID-19 fears following the return of a defector from South Korea.
On Sunday, North Korea said that it has put Kaesong on lockdown, claiming that a runaway defector suspected of COVID-19 infection recently returned from the South.
Seoul later said a North Korean defector is believed to have swan across the border but doubted he had contracted the virus, reports Yonhap News Agency.
Choe, president of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly, visited Kaesong and inspected emergency anti-virus efforts underway in the city, according to Pyongyang’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
Choe held a meeting with local officials and instructed them to make sure that food and medical supplies are provided to residents in need and that disinfection and other anti-virus measures should be strictly carried out as required, KCNA added.
His trip to Kaesong appears aimed at emphasizing the importance of antivirus efforts and urging people to stay vigilant amid growing fears that the coronavirus could break out in the border town and spread to the rest of the country.