N. Korea 'emergency' over suspected COVID-19 case
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has declared an emergency and lockdown in a border city after state media reported that a person suspected of having the new coronavirus had returned from South Korea.
If confirmed, it would be the first case of COVID-19 officially acknowledged by the North Korean authorities.
State television KRT aired footage on Sunday (July 26) of Kim presiding over an emergency politburo meeting at which he described, quote, "a critical situation in which the vicious virus could be said to have entered the country."
The report claimed that a person who defected to South Korea three years ago had returned to the North Korean city Kaesong having illegally crossed the fortified border between the two countries.
That person - who has been quarantined - was reported to have symptoms of COVID-19 though state media did not say if they have been tested.
Officials are investigating anyone who they may have been in contact with.
