The sister of North Korean leader Kim JongUn has slammed the South’s foreign minister as “impudent” for casting doubtover Pyongyang’s claim that the country has no coronavirus cases, state mediareported Wednesday, reports AFP.
Nuclear-armed Pyongyang closed its borders in January, sealing itself offfrom the outside world in an effort to avoid contamination, and has longinsisted that it has had no cases.
Kim himself reiterated the claim at a huge military parade in October.
Experts suggest it is unlikely, given that the virus first emerged inneighbouring China, its main provider of trade and aid.
South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha told a forum in Bahrain onSaturday that it was “hard to believe” that the North had no coronaviruscases, adding that Pyongyang had been unresponsive to Seoul’s offers to helptackle the disease.
The pandemic “in fact has made North Korea more North Korea — ie moreclosed, very top-down decision-making process where there is very littledebate on their measures dealing with Covid-19”, Kang said.
“All signs are that the regime is very intensely focused on controlling thedisease that they say they don’t have.”
Kim Yo Jong, sister and key adviser to the North Korean leader, condemnedKang in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency onWednesday, calling her comments “impudent” and accusing her of seeking toworsen the already strained inter-Korean relationship. “It can be seen fromthe reckless remarks made by her without any consideration of theconsequences that she is too eager to further chill the frozen relationsbetween the north and south of Korea,” Kim said.
“We will never forget her words and she might have to pay dearly for it.”
The statement came with discussions between Pyongyang and both Washingtonand Seoul at a standstill following the collapse of the 2019 Hanoi summit between Kim and US President Donald Trump over what the North would bewilling to give up in exchange for sanctions relief.
In June, Pyongyang blew up a liaison office with the South on its side ofthe border — paid for by Seoul — saying it had no interest in talks.
The North also has yet to comment on the election of Joe Biden as USpresident, nor has its state media reported the result.
Biden has previouslycharacterised Kim Jong Un as a “thug”.
Kim Yo Jong’s statement came with US Deputy Secretary of State StephenBiegun, who has led denuclearisation talks with Pyongyang under the Trumpadministration, currently on a visit to Seoul.
