North Korea’s Kim Jong Un contracts COVID-19: state media

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un has been infected with COVID-19.

While rumors about the dictator’s health have circulated for weeks, the state-run Rodong Shinmun newspaper broke the news on Tuesday, saying Kim “suffered a high fever amid the anti-pandemic battle,” according to translations by the South China Morning Post.

The newspaper has reported multiple cases in which Kim was exposed to the disease while visiting workers already infected with COVID-19.

“When the great leader visited the state emergency epidemic prevention headquarters on the first night since the maximum anti-pandemic emergency measures were established, some of the officials there were already infected with the ‘malignant epidemic'” , said Rodong Shinmun.

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In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his wife Ri Sol Ju prepare medicine at an undisclosed location in North Korea on Wednesday, June 15, 2022, to send to the city ​​of Haeju where an infectious disease occurred.
(Korea Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)

The news confirms hints and speculation about the dictator’s health after his family members said he was battling an illness earlier this month.

His sister, Kim Yo Jong, did not directly confirm that her brother had the virus, but said he was “seriously ill” and had a “high fever.”

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“Although he was seriously ill with a high fever, he could not lie down for a moment thinking about the people he had to take care of until the end in the face of the anti-epidemic war,” he told North Korean television. .

FILE – Kim Yo Jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, is seen in Hanoi, Vietnam, March 2, 2019.
(Jorge Silva/Pool photo via AP, file)

Pyongyang has struggled to put the pandemic behind it as officials contract and re-contract the virus.

Earlier this month, Kim Yo-Jong declared victory over the coronavirus, lifting emergency measures and beginning the country’s planned return to normalcy.

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In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his wife Ri Sol Ju prepare medicine at an undisclosed location in North Korea on Wednesday, June 15, 2022, to send to the city ​​of Haeju where an infectious disease occurred.
(Korea Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)

Experts have dismissed reports of Pyongyang’s victory over COVID, however, with cases suddenly halting on July 28. Official government statistics say COVID had a death rate of just 0.0016 percent, or 74 out of about 4.77 million in the country, according to Reuters.

North Korea has not provided reliable data on how many of its citizens were infected with COVID. Instead, it was based on the daily number of fever patients, which peaked at 47.7 million, according to Reuters.

Anders Hagstrom of Fox News contributed to this report.