North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un has fired more than a third of the members of the State Affairs Commission, the country’s highest decision-making body. Five of the 14 members of the panel were replaced, the state news agency KCNA reported today.
Kim is himself a member and chairman of the commission, which he controls, like the entire state power, with an iron hand. The agency did not give reasons for the change of staff.
The exchange of members of the commission is said to have taken place during a meeting of the Supreme People’s Assembly, the North Korean Parliament. Photos of the state-run newspaper „Rodong Sinmun“ showed that, despite the coronavirus pandemic, members of the People’s Assembly were sitting close together and wearing no respiratory protection.
Sister reinstated as political bureau member
The younger sister was reportedly reinstated in her top position in the Central Committee’s Politburo. As KCNA reported, the decision to reinstate Kim Yo Jong as an alternate member of the important body was made at a meeting chaired by her brother.
North Korea: Not a single CoV case
An official report reiterated that North Korea had „not a single case“ of infection with the novel virus. Shortly after the first coronavirus infections became known in China, Pyongyang closed its borders with the neighboring country in January. Thousands of North Koreans and hundreds of foreigners, including diplomats, were quarantined for weeks.
International experts consider North Korea to be particularly at risk in the pandemic. The country, which has been subject to severe sanctions because of its nuclear and missile program, is almost completely isolated internationally, the health system is weak.
