Seoul has renewed its willingness to work together with Pyongyang against the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and is following the situation amid the first suspected case in the North Korean city of Kaesong, South Korean Unification Minister Lee In-young said on Thursday
SEOUL (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th July, 2020) Seoul has renewed its willingness to work together with Pyongyang against the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and is following the situation amid the first suspected case in the North Korean city of Kaesong, South Korean Unification Minister Lee In-young said on Thursday.
"We take the quarantine measures in and around Kaesong seriously and are closely watching the situation... If there is an opportunity, I think we have to render coronavirus-related cooperation not only for Kaesong but anywhere in North Korea," Lee told reporters, as quoted by the Yonhap news agency.
In late July, North Korea reported its first suspected COVID-19 case, as a defector who arrived in the country from South Korea earlier in the month was showing COVID-19 symptoms. North Korea then strengthened its anti-coronavirus measures and sealed off Kaesong where the suspected case was identified, despite the fact that the South Korean authorities have claimed that he was not infected with COVID-19.
The defector has been placed in quarantine, and the North Korean health authorities have been making efforts to identify and test everyone who has come into contact with the suspected coronavirus carrier. Meanwhile, North Korea announced earlier on Thursday that the country is still coronavirus-free.
Seoul has been offering Pyongyang to join forces against COVID-19, but North Korea has not yet responded, as the relations between the two have been deteriorating recently, especially after Pyongyang blew up the joint liaison office in Kaesong earlier this year.
