Kim Jong-un chairs Covid-19 prevention meeting, agricultural campaign
Seoul, Sep 3 (EFE).- North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has chaired a single-party meeting to discuss reinforcing prevention in the context of the pandemic and to conclude the agricultural campaign in a time the country is experiencing a severe economic crisis, state media reported Friday.
The politburo meeting of the Workers’ Party took place Thursday in Pyongyang, state agency KCNA reported.
Kim told those present to improve the preparation and technical means of the officers in charge of health prevention efforts, KCNA said.
The meeting took place the same week in which international organizations announced Pyongyang rejected the shipment of almost 3 million doses of vaccines developed by Chinese laboratory Sinovac after discarding 2 million AstraZeneca doses in the first half of the year.
The country, which closed its borders at the beginning of the pandemic, has not yet received a single vaccine and has not reported any Covid-19 cases
At the meeting, Kim also told “the party’s Central Committee to take measures to successfully conclude this year’s agricultural season and achieve important progress in solving the population’s food problem.”
He told officials to “ensure a responsible state supply of agricultural materials and equipment and to improve the transportation, processing and supply of grain.”
The North Korean leader said this summer that the country’s food situation is complicated.
The border closure and meticulous customs controls to prevent the entry of virus have prevented the normalized access of foreign goods to the country and vital income such as that generated by tourism or foreign investment.
At the Thursday meeting, he stressed the importance of improving the management of agricultural soils to reduce the damage the country’s farms suffer periodically from the rains, spoiling entire crops.
Three typhoons hit the country last year and several torrential rains have left significant damage in the northeast this summer. EFE
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