North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has sacked several senior officials he accused of being responsible for a “serious incident” linked to the Covid-19 pandemic, which Pyongyang has so far not acknowledged. presence in its territory. These officials “caused a serious incident which is causing a huge crisis for the security of the nation and its people,” Kim Jong Un said at a politburo meeting, quoted by the official KCNA news agency.
The agency did not provide any details on the number of people sacked or on the charges against them, but Kim Jong Un accused them of being “the prey of selfishness and passivity”. “The incompetence and irresponsibility of senior officials is a major factor slowing down the performance of important tasks,” the North Korean leader added during the meeting, according to KCNA.
Pandemic denial
Until now, the North Korean regime has always maintained that the Covid-19 epidemic did not arrive on its soil, which many experts doubt. At the head of a country with a failing health system, Kim Jong Un decided to close North Korea’s borders in January 2020 in order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus which appeared in his Chinese neighbor. Pyongyang has never reported a case of Covid-19, neither in the official media, nor through the figures communicated to the World Health Organization.
The information released by KCNA “means North Korea has registered cases,” said Ahn Chan-il, a North Korean defector turned researcher at the Seoul-based World Institute for North Korean Studies. The official agency reported that, during a Politburo meeting, Kim Jong Un accused officials of being “negligent” in causing a “crucial” incident that resulted in “a great crisis with serious consequences for the security of the State and the population”.
Reinforced international isolation
However, he gave no details of what happened. Kim Jong Un added that the “lack of competence and irresponsibility” of these executives had delayed the accomplishment of important tasks, accusing them of “self-protectionism and passivity”. Members of the powerful North Korean Workers’ Party politburo and its presidium were sacked and new members were appointed at a meeting Tuesday, KCNA said, adding that government officials had been “transferred” and others “named”.
Under international sanctions because of its nuclear program, North Korea found itself more isolated than ever because of this measure. Its trade with China, on which it depends heavily, has drastically reduced and aid workers have deserted the country. Kim Jong un recently acknowledged that North Korea was facing a “tense food situation”, sounding the alarm in a country where the agricultural sector has been in dire straits for years.