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A28 WORLD NEWS
Monday 27 July 2020
North Korea locks down border city over suspected virus case

By HYUNG-JIN KIM ation in which the vicious
Associated Press virus could be said to have
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — entered the country." Kim
North Korean leader Kim said he took "the preemp-
Jong Un placed the city of tive measure of totally
Kaesong near the border blocking Kaesong City and
with South Korea under to- isolating each district and
tal lockdown after a person region from the other" on
was found there with sus- Friday afternoon after re-
pected COVID-19 symp- ceiving the report on it, ac-
toms, saying "the vicious cording to KCNA.
virus" may have entered Analyst Cheong Seong-
the country, state media Chang at the private Se-
reported Sunday. jong Institute in South Korea
If the person is officially said a thorough lockdown
declared a coronavirus in Kaesong would make it
patient, he or she would difficult for a potential vi-
be North Korea's first con- rus outbreak to spread be-
firmed case. The North has yond the city. But he said
steadfastly said it has had virus fears would engulf
no cases of the virus, a North Korean leaders.
claim questioned by out- "The anxiety and fears
side experts. about COVID-19 spread-
The lockdown was de- In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attends ing in the North Korean
clared Friday afternoon. an emergency Politburo meeting in Pyongyang, North Korea Saturday, July 25, 2020. leadership would be much
Associated Press
The North's official Korean bigger than outsiders can
Central News Agency said Describing its anti-virus ef- They are also skeptical inter-Korean liaison office in roughly speculate because
the suspected virus patient forts as a "matter of nation- about North Korea's claim Kaesong to protest a cam- the country lacks test kits
is a runaway who fled to al existence," North Korea of having had no infections paign by South Korean ac- and has virtually no facili-
South Korea three years earlier this year shut down because the country shares tivists who have been send- ties to treat virus patients,"
ago before illegally cross- nearly all cross-border traf- a long, porous border with ing anti-Pyongyang leaflets Cheong said.
ing the border into the fic, banned foreign tourists China, its biggest trading across the border. The Politburo meeting also
North early last week. and mobilized health work- partner, where the world's During an emergency Po- discussed the "loose guard
KCNA said respiratory se- ers to quarantine anyone first known virus cases were litburo meeting Saturday, performance" at the bor-
cretion and blood tests with symptoms. But the reported in December. Kim also declared a state der area where the sus-
showed the person "is sus- Kaesong lockdown is the Kaesong, a city with an of emergency in the Kae- pected patient crossed
pected to have been in- first such known measure estimated population of song area and "clarified over to North Korea, KCNA
fected" with the coronavi- taken in a North Korean 200,000, is located just the determination of the said.
rus. It said the person was city to stem the pandemic. north of the heavily forti- Party Central Committee It said that Kim and other
placed under quarantine. Foreign experts say a coro- fied land border with South to shift from the state emer- leaders were briefed on
People who had been in navirus outbreak in North Korea. It once hosted the gency anti-epidemic sys- the results of an intensive in-
contact with the suspected Korea could cause dire Koreas' jointly run industrial tem to the maximum emer- vestigation of a military unit
patient and those who had consequences because of complex, which has been gency system and issue a responsible for the border
been to Kaesong in the last its fragile public health care shut since 2016 amid nu- top-class alert," KCNA said. crossing and discussed ad-
five days were also quaran- infrastructure and chronic clear tensions. Last month, It quoted Kim as saying ministering "a severe pun-
tined. lack of medical supplies. North Korea blew up an there was "a critical situ- ishment." q

Cease-fire in war-torn eastern Ukraine to begin at midnight

troops about the cease-fire port for the separatists. The the Kremlin said. Zelenskiy
and issued a decree ban- conflict has since killed in turn, stressed the need
ning the use of weapons. more than 14,000. "for further practical steps"
Ukraine's military said their The presidents of Russia and aimed at releasing Ukraini-
forces "have begun prepa- Ukraine both commended ans who are imprisoned by
rations" for the ceasefire. the cease-fire deal in a rebels in eastern Ukraine,
If upheld, it would "pave phone call Sunday and un- in the annexed region of
the way for implement- derscored the importance Crimea and in Russia, ac-
ing other clauses" of the of implementing the agree- cording to a statement by
Minsk peace deal, the of- ments reached at the De- his office. The 2015 deal
fice of Ukraine's president cember summit in Paris. envisaged that Ukraine
said earlier this week, call- Russia President Vladimir can regain control over its
In this file photo dated Monday, Dec. 9, 2019, Ukrainian soldiers ing the cease-fire a "break- Putin expressed concern border with Russia in the
strengthen their front line position in the town of Novoluhanske through." over Kyiv's calls to revise the separatist-held regions
in the Donetsk region, Ukraine. Brokered in 2015 by France Minsk agreements and said only after they are granted
Associated Press and Germany, the Minsk Ukrainian President Volody- broad self-rule and hold lo-
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrai- begin at midnight, a move peace plan aimed to re- myr Zelenskiy's "position cal elections. The accord
nian and rebel forces in that officials hope can lead solve the conflict between about the non-alternative helped reduce the scope
war-torn eastern Ukraine to more steps to resolve the Ukraine and Russia-backed nature of the Minsk agree- of hostilities, but Ukrainian
have started preparing for 6-year-old conflict. separatists that flared in ments, once again voiced forces and the rebels have
a "full and comprehensive" Rebel officials said Sunday 2014 after Russia's annexa- during this call, should continued to exchange ar-
cease-fire scheduled to they have instructed their tion of Crimea and its sup- translate into real actions," tillery salvos and gunfire. q