In this photo released by the , in this photo released by the Korean Central News Agency, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un speaks during an executive policy council meeting of the Worker's Party on August 5, 2020.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has ordered special aid to the border city of Kaesong under lockdown over coronavirus concerns.
The Korean Central News Agency reported on Thursday that Kim convened an executive policy council meeting of the ruling Worker's Party a day earlier where he gave the order.
According to the KCNA, a brief was delivered on the "anti-epidemic work and the situation in Kaesong that is completely locked down under the state's maximum emergency system" and measures were decided on for the special supply of food and funds to "stabilize the living" of citizens in the city.
The North also decided to launch "a new department within the Central Committee of the Party" and discussed ways to "radically improve the personnel affairs system of the Party," it added without elaborating.
Last week, North Korea declared a state of emergency and put Kaesong on lockdown, claiming that a "runaway" defector suspected of COVID-19 infection recently came back from South Korea.
<Photo: Yonhap News>
