Kim Jong-un suffered from fever during Covid outbreak: Report

Seoul, Aug 11 (IANS) Kim Yo-jong, the younger sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, revealed that her brother had "fallen ill" with "high fever" amid the country's fight against Covid-19, a state media report said on Thursday.

She made the remarks during a national meeting on anti-epidemic measures on Wednesday in which Kim Jong-un declared victory in his country's emergency campaign against Covid-19, three months after the nation reported its first outbreak of the virus, according to the report by Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

In her speech, Kim Yo-jong, who also serves as vice department director of the Central Committee of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, blamed the country's virus crisis on the "hysteric farce" from South Korea to escalate confrontation and reiterated the claim that "alien things" from the South carried the virus into the North, Yonhap News Agency quoted the KCNA report as saying.

Last month, the North claimed its coronavirus outbreak originated from alien things found near the inter-Korean border, alluding to balloon-carried materials sent by North Korean defector groups in South Korea, such as anti-Pyongyang leaflets.

She then revealed that her brother had fallen ill with "high fever" himself amid the country's anti-virus fight and praised the Kim Jong-un's efforts to manage the situation.

Pyongyang announced its first Covid-19 case on May 12 after claiming to be coronavirus-free for over two years and implemented nationwide lockdowns.

The North's daily fever tally has remained at zero since July 29 after peaking at over 392,920 on May 15

In his address to the meeting, Kim Jong-un "declared the victory in the maximum emergency anti-epidemic campaign for exterminating the novel coronavirus that had made inroads into our territory and protecting the lives and health of the people", the KCNA report said..

He also proclaimed a decision to lower its "maximum" emergency epidemic prevention system to a normal level.

The North Korean leader, however, stressed the need for continued vigilance and stricter measures in border areas to prevent Covid-19 from again entering the country, citing the global spread of variants and monkeypox.