NNA - North Korea’s state media said on Friday that the first outbreak of the COVID-19 disease began when infected people came into contact with “foreign objects” near the South Korean border, apparently blaming their neighbor for the spread of the infection. . Country.

When North Korea announced the results of the investigation, it instructed residents to “beware of strange objects of wind and other weather phenomena and bubbles in the area along the demarcation line and border.”

The agency did not directly mention South Korea, but for decades North Korean defectors and activists have sent balloons, leaflets and humanitarian aid across South Korea’s heavily fortified border.

South Korea’s Unification Ministry, which is responsible for Korean affairs, said it was “impossible” for the virus to enter North Korea through cross-border leaflets.

“We learned that a soldier named Kim, 18, and a five-year-old boy, Wei, came into contact with foreign objects on a hill near the Ifo-ri barracks and residential areas in early April,” Korean Central News reported.

===========