North Korea Blames Southern Neighbor for Coronavirus Outbreak

The official media in North Korea said that the first outbreak of the COVID-19 disease began with the infected people touching "strange things" near the border with South Korea.

According to an investigation conducted by the  North Korean authorities, the residents were "ordered to deal with caution with strange objects carried by the wind and other meteorological phenomena and balloons in the area along the demarcation line and the border."

The official news agency in North Korea did not directly mention South Korea, but for decades, North Korean defectors and activists have been sending balloons from South Korea across the heavily fortified border carrying leaflets and humanitarian aid.

"We learned that a soldier named Kim, aged 18, and a child named Wei, aged 5, touched strange objects in a hill surrounding barracks and residential neighborhoods in Ifo-RI in early April," the Korean Central News Agency said, adding that symptoms appeared on them and then tests confirmed. They are infected with the virus.