North Korea on virus threat: 'Under safe and stable control'

rth Korea on Tuesday called on world's governments to “display effective leership” in fight against COVID-19 and said its own measures against pandemic, which it called “preemptive, timely and strong,” ensured it h threat “under safe and stable control."

Kim Song, country's U.N. ambassor, said a tightly ministered anti-pandemic effort in his nation h been working. rth Korea strictly regulates foreign visitors — even more so during pandemic that's killed more than 1 million people worldwide — and filters all information through its state propaganda apparatus, with details about its approach to coronavirus relatively scant.

"() anti-epidemic situation in our country is w under safe and stable control,” ambassor said in a rare live dress at U.N. General Assembly.

“A series of state measures are w being taken to block virus inflow into country, and all people here strictly to anti-epidemic regulations while maintaining highest alert,” he said.

Furr, Kim said government “will t tolerate even a smallest bit of slackness or concession, but furr strengn state emergency anti-epidemic measures until danger of pandemic inflow is completely eliminated."

Until Tuesday, all speeches at U.N. General Assembly over past week were virtual, delivered by world leers in prerecorded videos from ir home nations. meeting concluded with a smattering of speeches by lower-level officials who are based at United Nations — including Kim.

He did t mention U.S. President Donald Trump or United States directly. But Kim spoke of “ maneuvers of hostile forces” in general — a frequent euphemism for United States and South Korea — and condemned U.S. tre embargo against Cuba as “ecomic gecide.”

rth Korean leer Kim Jong Un, third generation of his family to rule nation, h t been expected to dress U.N. this year. Kim Song also dressed General Assembly last year.

Trump and Kim Jong Un have met three times since embarking on ir high-stakes nuclear diplomacy in 2018. But negotiations have stalled since ir second summit in February 2019 in Vietnam, where Americans rejected rth Korea’s demands for major sanctions relief in exchange for a piecemeal deal toward partially surrendering its nuclear capabilities.

leers met for a third time that year in June at border between rth and South Korea and agreed to resume negotiations. But a working-level meeting in Sweden broke down months later over what rth Koreans described as Americans’ “old stance and attitude.”

rth in recent months has repeatedly stated it would never again gift Trump with high-profile meetings he could boast of as foreign policy achievements unless it gets something substantial in return. Most experts say rth Korea is likely to avoid serious negotiations with Trump ministration before vember presidential election because re's a chance U.S. leership could change.

Kim Song also peppered his speech Tuesday with s of things that rth Korea often says about its international relations — that, in his words, “ nuclear threat on DPRK continues unabated along with all sorts of hostile acts taking place before very eyes,” using abbreviation for his country’s formal name, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

"In present world, where high-handedness based on strength is rampant, genuine peace can only be safeguarded when one possesses absolute strength to prevent war itself," U.N. ambassor said.

Kim Jong Un is struggling to keep afloat an ecomy ravd by U.S.-led sanctions over his nuclear weapons program, border closures amid pandemic and devastating summer floods that will likely worsen country’s food shorts.

In a glimpse into some of those struggles against natural calamity, Kim Song said, "Although we suffered considerable losses due to unexpected natural disasters this year, we are vigorously striving to remove flood and typhoon dams by ourselves and stabilize people’s life in a short period of time."

During a high-level political conference in August, Kim Jong Un showed unusual candor by ackwledging that his plans to improve ecomy aren’t succeeding as ruling Workers’ Party scheduled a rare congress in January to set development goals for next five years.

It’s possible Kim could use congress, which would take place after U.S. election, to anunce a new foreign policy approach toward Washington and Seoul, experts say.

This story has t been edited by www.republicworld.com and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.