North Korea's Kim presides party meeting as health speculation swirls

North Korean state media on Wednesday showed leader Kim Jong Un at a meeting of a top committee issuing warnings about the coronavirus, following the international speculation over his state of health.

Kim assessed defects in the state emergency anti-epidemic work for checking the inroads of the malignant virus. The impoverished North has not confirmed a single case of the disease that has swept the world since first emerging in neighboring China. Last month Pyongyang imposed a lockdown on the city of Kaesong, close to the border with the South, claiming a defector who had returned was suspected of carrying the virus.

The restrictions were lifted earlier this month and the infection was never confirmed. The meeting also discussed emergency measures to prevent crop damage or casualties from Typhoon Bavi, which is forecast to hit the country this week.