North Korea criticized South Korea's foreign minister for disbelieving the north hasn't had a single confirmed case of COVID-19.
North Korean state-controlled news media Wednesday said the recent "impudent" comment by South Korean foreign minister Kang Kyung-wha will have consequences. Kang said it was "hard to believe" North Korea had no COVID-19 cases.
Kim Yo Jong, elder sister of North Korea leader Kim Jong Un, said Kang's remarks further strained Korean ties. "It can be seen from the reckless remarks made by her without any consideration of the consequences that she is too eager to further chill the frozen relations," Kim told state-run news agency KCNA.
"We will never forget her words and she might have to pay dearly for it."
Kim is first deputy director of the United Front Department of the Workers' Party of Korea and an important member of the Politburo.
Last week, KCNA said North Korea imposed "top-class emergency measures" to block the virus entering the country.
There have been reports of North Koreans living along the border with China becoming ill and many are said to have died.
South Korea's National Intelligence Service said an outbreak in the North can't be ruled out because the north has extensive trade and people-to-people exchanges with China.
In late July, however, North Korea admitted to its first confirmed case of COVID-19. KCNA said the man that brought COVID-19 into the country was a North Korean who defected to South Korea three years ago.
He reentered North Korea July 19 by sneaking through the Demilitarized Zone.
"An emergency event happened in Kaesong city where a runaway who went to the south three years ago - a person who is suspected to have been infected with the vicious virus - returned in July after illegally crossing the demarcation line," KCNA said.
KCNA said Kim Jong-un asked for an investigation. He ordered a "maximum emergency system" to contain the virus. Earlier this month Kim praised his country's "shining success" in keeping out COVID-19.
Kim ordered a lockdown of the border city of Kaesong, 20 miles to the north of Seoul. Kaesong is home to the Inter-Korean Joint Relations Office - whose offices were destroyed by an explosion June 16 on Kim's orders.
In February, there were at least four deaths and 18 cases of COVID-19 in North Korea. North Korea shares a 1,500 kilometer border with China and more than 200 COVID-19 infections in January were confirmed in the two China provinces adjacent to North Korea. The border was closed Jan. 22.
Eighteen people have been quarantined in Pyongyang, Daily NK, an online newspaper with sources in North Korea, said. Daily NK reported a woman in Pyongyang died from COVID-19 in January.
The woman in her 50s died from the disease Jan. 27, according to a source in North Korea. The source said the authorities submitted documents saying she died of acute pneumonia - not COVID-19.
