North Korea declares emergency after 'runaway' coronavirus defector returns

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North Korean authorities have imposed a lockdown on the border city of Kaesong after discovering what they called the country's first suspected case of Covid-19, state media reported on Sunday.

Leader Kim Jong Un convened an emergency politburo meeting on Saturday to implement a"maximum emergency system and issue a top-class alert" to contain the virus, official news agency KCNA said.

KCNA said a defector who had left for the South three years ago returned on July 19 after"illegally crossing" the heavily fortified border dividing the countries. Pyongyang has previously insisted not a single case of the coronavirus had been seen in the North despite the illness having swept the globe, and the country's borders remain closed.

It was a"dangerous situation ... that may lead to a deadly and destructive disaster", the media outlet added.

 

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