(COLOMBO, LANKAPUVATH) –North Korea has reported what it describes as the country’s first suspected case of coronavirus.
State media said a person who defected to South Korea three years ago last week returned across the demarcation line with Covid-19 symptoms.
Leader Kim Jong-un held an emergency meeting with top officials, imposing a lockdown in the border city of Kaesong.
North Korea, a secretive state, had previously not reported any virus cases – but analysts said this was unlikely.
“An emergency event happened in Kaesong city where a runaway who went to the south three years ago – a person who is suspected to have been infected with the vicious virus – returned on 19 July after illegally crossing the demarcation line,” news agency KCNA said.
