Kim vents wrath over some Covid-related problem

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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un chastised senior officials over a "crucial case" that caused a "great crisis" endangering the safety of the country in its nationwide coronavirus…

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un chastised senior officials over a "crucial case" that caused a "great crisis" endangering the safety of the country in its nationwide coronavirus prevention efforts, state media reported Wednesday.

Kim addressed an extended Politburo meeting of the North's ruling Workers' Party Tuesday, reported its official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), and accused senior officials of neglecting their duties in carrying out measures needed to fight the pandemic.

The English-language KCNA report quoted Kim as saying that "senior officials in charge of important state affairs neglected the implementation of the important decisions of the Party on taking organizational, institutional, material, scientific and technological measures as required by the prolonged state emergency epidemic prevention campaign associated with the worldwide health crisis."

This, said Kim, "caused a crucial case of creating a great crisis in ensuring the security of the state and safety of the people and entailed grave consequences."

North Korea officially claims it has no confirmed Covid-19 cases. It has implemented stringent border controls and other sweeping quarantine measures severing most of its contact with the outside world since January 2020.

Kim's remarks could indicate a lapse in North Korea's disease control efforts. It could further provide Kim an opportunity to reshuffle officials and tighten internal discipline, analysts said.

The KCNA report said the Politburo meeting Tuesday was to "deal with some leading officials' dereliction of duty in implementing the major policy task" of the Workers' Party and also "provide a fresh turning point in the personnel administration."

The officials were accused of "extreme negligence and deliberate idleness," adding that their "chronic irresponsibility and incompetence" do "tremendous harm to the development of the revolutionary work" of the party.

The meeting also "dealt with an organizational issue," reported the KCNA, electing…

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