[서울=뉴스핌] Reporter Song Ki-wook = North Korean leader Kim Jong-un convened an emergency council the day before and strongly criticized the government and health sector’s irresponsible business attitude, saying “medicines procured by the state are not being delivered to residents in a timely manner through pharmacies.”
North Korea’s state-run media, the Korean Central News Agency, reported on the 16th that “The Politburo of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea convened another emergency meeting on the 15th and conducted a project to discuss quarantine measures.”
| The North Korean Central News Agency reported on the 13th that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visited the National Emergency Response Command and provided on-site guidance on the nationwide emergency quarantine situation. [사진=조선중앙통신] |
Chairman Kim said on the same day, “In order to quickly suppress and manage the spread of the epidemic, he even issued an emergency order to urgently release and supply national reserve medicines and ordered all pharmacies to move to a 24-hour operating system,” he said. This is not happening right away, and medicines are not being supplied to pharmacies in a timely manner,” he pointed out.
“This is due to the fact that the Cabinet and health officials do not have a correct understanding of the current crisis situation and do not step forward while memorizing the spirit of dedicated service for the people only in words,” he said.
He said, “The judicial and prosecution departments, which are supposed to provide strong legal guarantees for the implementation of the Party’s policies, are not properly monitoring and controlling the laws to ensure that administrative orders related to drug insurance are implemented quickly and accurately. I feel no responsibility or remorse, and I am not playing any role.”
Chairman Kim decided to send the People’s Army to solve the problem. “The Marshal issued a special order from the Party Central Military Commission to immediately stabilize the drug supply business in Pyongyang Xi’an by putting in the strong capabilities of the People’s Army’s military division,” the news agency reported.
In North Korea, more than 39,920 cases of fever and 8 deaths were reported in the previous day. With this, the cumulative death toll has surpassed 50 since North Korea acknowledged the influx of COVID-19.