South Korean intelligence says North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has not been vaccinated against Covid-19
South Korea's intelligence agency said yesterday (July 8) that there were no signs that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un had been vaccinated against Covid-19 and that the country had yet to receive foreign vaccines.
South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS) informed lawmakers of the news at a closed-door meeting, AP news agency quoted Ha Tae-keung, one of the lawmakers attending the meeting, as saying..
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COVAX, the UN-backed global Covid-19 vaccine delivery program, said in FebruaryChosencould receive 1.9 million doses of vaccine in the first half of this year. However, deliveries have yet to be made.
The NIS also said that North Korea planned to reopen to China in April but shelved the idea due to a lack of disinfection equipment.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said last week that North Korea announced it had tested 31,794 people for Covid-19 last month and all the results were negative.
UNICEF, which represents COVAX in procuring and shipping Covid-19 vaccines, said it is still unclear when vaccines can be shipped to North Korea because the country has yet to complete the paperwork to receive supplies from COVAX.
North Korea’s anti-virus campaign has so far focused on strict quarantines and border controls, with vaccines appearing to be a secondary priority, said Hong Min, a senior analyst at the Seoul-based Institute for National Unification.
Also in the closed-door meeting, the NIS told lawmakers that Kim Jong-un appeared to have no health problems despite having recently lost nearly 20kg. And that Kim Jong-un had recently chaired meetings for hours and was still walking around normally.
