Coronavirus - North Korea offers aid and condolences, but keeps its border closed

Forum 5 years ago

Coronavirus - North Korea offers aid and condolences, but keeps its border closed

North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, has sent a letter to President Xi Jinping of China offering condolences — and a rare donation of aid — to help Beijing fight the coronavirus outbreak, the North’s state-run news agency reported on Saturday.

North Korea was one of the first countries to shut its borders to visitors from China to keep out the coronavirus.

But in his letter to Mr. Xi, Mr. Kim “sent warm greetings to all the party members and medical workers of China active in the first line for the prevention of the epidemic, and expressed deep consolation for the families who lost their blood relatives due to the infectious disease,” the North Korean news agency said.

Along with Mr. Kim’s letter of condolence, North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party sent an undisclosed amount of “aid fund” to its Chinese counterpart under a decision its Political Bureau made on Friday, the North Korean news agency said.

Mr. Kim “conveyed his sincere feelings of wanting to share the suffering and trial of the fraternal Chinese people and to render help even a bit,” it said.