Kim Yo Jong Targets South Korean Leaflets as Root Cause of North’s COVID-19 Pandemic – The Diplomat

Within the assertion printed by North Korea’s state media KCNA on Thursday, Kim Yo Jong, the highly effective sister of the North Korean chief Kim Jong Un and the principle voice of inter-Korean relations, mentioned that the nation’s COVID-19 disaster was South Korea’s fault.

“Now that many nations on the earth are taking simpler anti-epidemic measures, realizing as soon as once more the hazard of the unfold of the malignant pandemic illness via contact with the objects contaminated with the malicious virus, it’s a matter of grave concern that the disgusting ones in south Korea stage a farce of scattering leaflets, financial institution notes, terrible booklets and issues over our territory,” the assertion quoted Kim as saying in the course of the Nationwide Assembly of Reviewing Emergency Anti-epidemic Work on Wednesday.

When North Korea’s state media unexpectedly introduced its first case of the coronavirus in Might, its propaganda blamed the leaflets and objects despatched from a civic group led by Park Sang-hak, who defected to South Korea a long time in the past. The leaflets and different objects are believed to have been despatched by Park weeks earlier than the North confirmed its first case of the virus in Might.

“It’s the universally accepted opinion of the worldwide neighborhood that it’s essential to totally disinfect the floor of objects because the malignant virus spreads through objects,” Kim mentioned. “Such scientific clarification can by no means change regardless of how desperately anybody might deny.”

As COVID-19 usually spreads from individual to individual, between people who find themselves in shut contact with one another, the South Korean Unification Ministry once more denied the accusation by saying there isn’t any connection between leaflets despatched over the border and COVID-19 circumstances.

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Nonetheless, North Korea appears to have concluded that South Korea can be held chargeable for the outbreak, as Kim warned that the countermeasure towards the “uninterrupted inflow of garbage from south Korea” could be “a lethal retaliatory one.”

“If the enemy persists in such harmful deeds as fomenting the inroads of virus into our Republic, we are going to reply to it by not solely exterminating the virus but additionally wiping out the south Korean authorities,” Kim mentioned.

In the course of the assembly, North Korea’s supreme chief Kim Jong Un declared victory in “the utmost emergency anti-epidemic marketing campaign,” which he kicked off months in the past.

For the previous three months, North Korean state media had printed day by day counts of the variety of fever sufferers and casualties, as different nations have performed. The significantly low variety of fever sufferers and casualties raised suspicion amongst consultants, as there ought to have been extra confirmed circumstances and deaths primarily based on the figures in different nations – particularly as a result of North Korea lacks the right medical remedies and vaccines. But on Wednesday Kim proudly declared his victory towards the extremely contagious virus.

As Pyongyang formally ended the devastating battle towards COVID-19, it’s going to doubtless resume testing short-range ballistic missiles concentrating on the South’s soil as an extension of Kim Yo Jong’s deal with.

After North Korea blew up the joint inter-Korean liaison workplace in 2020, the previous Moon Jae-in administration and the Democratic Get together enacted and handed a regulation banning sending leaflets and different objects towards the North. The primary cause for enacting the regulation was to guard folks dwelling close to the border with the North.

The Folks Energy Get together strongly criticized the regulation, slamming the Democratic Get together and the Moon authorities for a “disgraceful submission to Kim Yo Jong’s order.”

U.S. Home Consultant James McGovern, who’s a co-chair of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Fee, additionally expressed his pessimistic view over the regulation and beneficial that the Nationwide Meeting revise the regulation, as it could suppress the liberty of expression.

South Korea now has a president from the PPP, Yoon Suk-yeol, however with out management of the legislature his choices are restricted. As a result of almost two-third of 300 lawmakers are members of the Democratic Get together, it’s unlikely the regulation can be revised to permit North Korean defectors to distribute leaflets and different gadgets towards the North. The Yoon authorities will doubtless attempt to revise or withdraw the regulation if it regains a majority within the Nationwide Meeting within the 2024 elections.

Park, the North Korean defector, stored sending leaflets towards the North even after the regulation handed on the Nationwide Meeting, together with a batch despatched in late April. He was indicted beneath the regulation in January 2022 and is standing trial.

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Consultants and North Korean defectors have persistently argued that the Kim regime is profoundly afraid of out of doors data being unfold to the folks. Pyongyang has by no means allowed its folks to get entry to overseas media, however such restrictions have been strengthened because the South Korean drama, “Crash Touchdown on You,” introduced an enormous viewership in early 2020.