North Korean state media says that a defector infected with COVID-19 slipped back across the border with South Korea. This is the first North Korean COVID case reported by the government. At a meeting today, led by Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un, the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea stepped up the country’s level of COVID response from “the state emergency anti-epidemic system” to “the maximum emergency system”.
In an action that likely struck fear into some members of the military, “the meeting sternly took up the issue of the loose guard performance in the frontline area in the relevant area where the runaway to the south occurred, and decided that the Central Military Commission of the WPK would get a report on the results of an intensive investigation of the military unit responsible for the runaway case, administer a severe punishment and take necessary measures”.