Kim Yo-jong

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un declared victory over the coronavirus in his country, world agencies reported, citing official media.

Kim "solemnly declared victory in the highly extraordinary anti-epidemic campaign to eradicate the new coronavirus," the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

North Korea's Kim Jong Un declared a "shining victory" over Covid-19 as his sister revealed he had fallen ill during the outbreak, which she blamed on Seoul, state media said Thursday.

Addressing a meeting of health workers and scientists, Kim announced a "victory... in the war against the malignant pandemic disease", according to the official Korean Central News Agency.

North Korea is willing to consider another summit with South Korea if mutual respect between the neighbors can be assured, state news agency KCNA said on Sept. 25, citing Kim Yo Jong, the sister of the North's leader Kim Jong Un.

North Korea has announced it will not take part in the Tokyo Olympics this year, saying the decision is to protect its athletes from Covid-19.

The decision puts an end to South Korea's hopes of using the Games to engage with the North amid stalled cross-border talks.

 In 2018, both sides entered a joint team at the Winter Olympics which led to a series of historic summits.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's influential sister slammed the U.S. and South Korea on March 16, state media reported, as the new U.S. secretaries of state and defence began a visit to Tokyo and Seoul.

China has confirmed that the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, has visited Beijing, where he met the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, and pledged his commitment to denuclearising the Korean peninsula.

Confirming several reports over the last two days, Xinhua state news agency said Kim had been in China on an "unofficial visit" from Sunday to Wednesday.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un praised South Korea for the "impressive" efforts to meet the North delegation during the Olympic Games in Pyongyang, Nova TV reported.

His comments were made after the return to Pyongyang of the delegation led by his sister. Kim Jong-un thanked South Korea for the importance it gave to the North Korean representatives.

A United Nations Security Council committee granted approval on Thursday for a North Korean delegation, specifically U.N.-sanctioned senior official Choe Hwi, to travel to South Korea for the opening of the Winter Olympics, diplomats said, cited by Reuters reported.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's sister will visit South Korea for the Winter Olympics in PeyongChang, the South Korean ministry of national unification said. Kim Yo-jong, who is the senior executive of the Korean Labor Party, will be part of a high-level delegation expected Friday in South Korea. She is responsible for the propaganda activity of the ruling party.

President Donald Trump has thrown his weight behind the Olympics-inspired diplomatic opening with North Korea, telling South Korea’s leader that the U.S. was open to talks with Kim Jong Un’s government under the right circumstances.