The influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has blamed Seoul for causing the COVID outbreak in her country and threatened ‘retaliation’, state media reported on Thursday, the day Pyongyang declared “victory” against the disease.
• Read more: North Korean leader declares ‘great victory’ over Covid
Kim Yo Jong condemned the ballooning of propaganda flyers from South Korea as a “crime against humanity,” according to the official KCNA news agency.
Pyongyang has previously blamed “foreign affairs” near the South’s border for the COVID outbreak in the isolated country, claims Seoul has denied.
Despite the 2021 ban, South Korean activists continue to send up balloons containing leaflets and dollar bills, prompting protests from Pyongyang.
Ms Kim argued that many countries and the WHO had recognized the “risk of transmission of an infectious disease through contact with contaminated materials”.
“It is very worrying that South Korea is sending pamphlets, money, brochures and dirty things to our region,” he added.
Kim Yo Jong warned that Pyongyang was considering a “strong retaliation” and if the balloons continued, “we will respond by eradicating the virus, but also the South Korean authorities”.
Seoul assured in June that “there are no officially verified cases of Covid-19, either by mail or material.”
The threats come after his brother declared “overwhelming success” in the battle against COVID-19, two weeks after no new cases were officially reported.
The country’s hospitals are under-equipped, with few intensive care units and no coronavirus treatment or vaccine, experts say.
According to his sister, Kim Jong-un appears to have contracted Covid.
The leader “suffered a severe fever during the days of this isolated war, but he could not lie down for a moment because he thought of the people he was responsible for,” his sister said.
