Kim Urges North Koreans to Keep up Virus Fight

FILE PHOTO: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un poses for photos in Pyongyang in this January 1, 2019 photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
FILE PHOTO: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un poses for photos in Pyongyang in this January 1, 2019 photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
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Kim Urges North Koreans to Keep up Virus Fight

FILE PHOTO: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un poses for photos in Pyongyang in this January 1, 2019 photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
FILE PHOTO: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un poses for photos in Pyongyang in this January 1, 2019 photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un urged officials to maintain alertness against the coronavirus, warning that complacency risked “unimaginable and irretrievable crisis,” state media said Friday.

Despite the warning, Kim reaffirmed North Korea's claim to not have had a single case of COVID-19, telling a ruling party meeting Thursday that the country has “thoroughly prevented the inroad of the malignant virus" despite the worldwide health crisis.

Outsiders widely doubt North Korea escaped the pandemic entirely, given its poor health infrastructure and close trade and travel ties to China, where COVID-19 emerged late last year.

Describing its anti-virus efforts as a “matter of national existence,” North Korea earlier this year shut down nearly all cross-border traffic, banned tourists and mobilized health workers to quarantine anyone with similar symptoms to the disease.

Experts say the country’s self-imposed lockdown is hurting an economy already battered by stringent US-led sanctions over its nuclear weapons and missile program.

The Korean Central News Agency said Kim during the politburo meeting of the Workers’ Party “stressed the need to maintain maximum alert without a slight self-complacence or relaxation” as the virus continues to spread in neighboring countries.

The agency said Kim sharply criticized inattentiveness among officials and violations of emergency anti-virus rules and warned that a “hasty relief of anti-epidemic measures will result in unimaginable and irretrievable crisis.”

The North’s official Rodong Sinmun newspaper published several photos of Kim at the meeting, which were the first state media images of him in weeks. Neither Kim nor the ruling party officials who participated were wearing masks.



54 People Killed in 24 Hours of Heavy Monsoon Rain in Pakistan

Local residents carry a big bag as they walk through a flooded road during monsoon rainfall, in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, Thursday, July 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)
Local residents carry a big bag as they walk through a flooded road during monsoon rainfall, in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, Thursday, July 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)
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54 People Killed in 24 Hours of Heavy Monsoon Rain in Pakistan

Local residents carry a big bag as they walk through a flooded road during monsoon rainfall, in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, Thursday, July 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)
Local residents carry a big bag as they walk through a flooded road during monsoon rainfall, in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, Thursday, July 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

Heavy rains have been linked to 54 deaths in the past 24 hours in Pakistan, taking the toll to about 180 since the arrival of the monsoon in late June, the government's disaster agency said on Thursday.

Torrential rain has poured almost without pause across parts of Punjab province since Wednesday morning, causing urban flooding and houses to collapse.

Residents living in low-lying areas near the Nullah Lai river that runs through the city of Rawalpindi, next to the capital Islamabad, have been ordered to evacuate after a sharp rise in the water level.

Evacuations have taken place in some areas adjoining the river "while rescue teams are on standby for more evacuations", a spokeswoman for the disaster agency said.

"Residents of vulnerable areas should prepare emergency kits with food, water, and essential medicines for three to five days in case of an emergency," the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said in an alert.

The Rawalpindi government declared a public holiday on Thursday to keep people at home, with the national meteorological department warning that heavy rain would continue until Friday.

"In the last 24 hours, 54 people were killed and 227 injured across Pakistan, with the majority of fatalities reported from Punjab," the NDMA spokeswoman told AFP, adding that the toll had been counted at 8:00 am (0300 GMT) on Thursday.

Around 180 people have been killed, including 70 children, and about 500 injured since the start of the monsoon on June 26, according to the disaster agency.

The majority of deaths were caused by collapsed houses and sudden flash floods, while dozens were also electrocuted.

Monsoon season brings South Asia 70 to 80 percent of its annual rainfall, and runs from June until September in India and Pakistan.

The annual rains are vital for agriculture and food security, and the livelihoods of millions of farmers, but also bring destruction.

South Asia is getting hotter and has seen shifting weather patterns in recent years, but scientists are unclear on how exactly a warming planet is affecting the highly complex monsoon.

Pakistan is one of the world's most vulnerable countries to the effects of climate change, and its 255 million residents are facing extreme weather events with increasing frequency.