North Korean leader Kim Jong-un attends an enlarged meeting of the Politburo of the ruling Workers' Party in Pyongyang yesterday. Photo / Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un attends an enlarged meeting of the Politburo of the ruling Workers' Party in Pyongyang yesterday. Photo / Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP
New photographs have been released of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, wearing the same bright white jacket as in similar footage released last week and in 2019, amid international speculation his health has significantly deteriorated.
In a rare display of urgency, Kim held his third high-level political conference in as many weeks, where he raised alarm about the nation's coronavirus response and a typhoon forecast to hit the country early tomorrow.
During an enlarged meeting of the Politburo of the ruling Workers' Party on Tuesday, Kim lamented unspecified "defects" and "shortcomings" in the country's' anti-virus campaign and urged that they be corrected swiftly, according to the North's official Korean Central News Agency said today.
Kim also called for thorough preparations to minimise damage from Typhoon Bavi, which comes weeks after torrential rains caused flooding and massive damage to homes and crops, inflicting further pain to an economy ravaged by US-led sanctions over its nuclear weapons and border closures amid the pandemic.
Kim Jong-un speaks during a plenary meeting of the Workers' Party in Pyongyang on August 19. Photo / Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP
Kim set tasks for the party and public services at every level, "saying that to thoroughly prevent the casualties by the typhoon and minimize the damage to crops is important work which can never be neglected even a moment," KCNA paraphrased the leader as saying.
Typhoon Bavi as of morning was near the South Korean island of Jeju and was on course to hit the northwest coast of the Korean Peninsula around daybreak tomorrow morning. South Korea's weather agency said it had a maximum wind speed of 162km/h and was forecast as one of the strongest to hit the peninsula this year.
Pyongang's official Rodong Sinmun newspaper urged the nation in an editorial to demonstrate "single-minded unity" in a struggle to protect "people and the assets of socialism from natural disasters".
"They should turn out as one in the struggle for preventing typhoon damage, sharing the consciousness of crisis with the Party," the newspaper said. "They should direct the biggest efforts into ensuring no loss of life."
KCNA said earlier the typhoon warning covers most the country, with fishing boats called to shore and measures being taken to protect buildings, farms, railroads, coal mines and power stations.
Kim Jong-un chairs an enlarged meeting of the Politburo of the ruling Workers' Party in Pyongyang yesterday. Photo / Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP
In another ruling party meeting last week, Kim admitted the country's economy has not improved as he had hoped. The Workers' Party cited "internal and external situations" as hurting the country's economic development, likely referring to US-led sanctions over North Korea's nuclear programme, the recent flooding and the efforts of closing the country's borders and other steps taken during the Covid-19 pandemic.
During the meeting last week, the ruling party scheduled a rare congress in January to set development goals for the next five years.
Experts say the coronavirus derailed some of Kim's major economic goals after North Korea imposed a lockdown that significantly reduced trade with China — its major ally and economic lifeline — and likely hampered its ability to mobilise its workforce.
The North has yet to confirm a single-case of Covid-19, but outsiders have widely doubted its virus-free claim. In late July, Kim ordered a lockdown of Kaesong, a city near the border with South Korea after the North reported it found a person with Covid-19 symptoms. It later told the World Health Organisation the person's test results were inconclusive.
