Kim slams negligent officials over spiralling N. Korea Covid outbreak

Kim Jong-un attending a meeting of the Presidium of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea in Pyongyang on May 17, 2022. - KCNA via KNS / AFP

SEOUL (AFP): North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said the negligence and laziness of state officials worsened the country's Covid outbreak, state media reported Wednesday (May 18), as the number of known cases crossed 1.7 million.

The nuclear-armed country reported its first coronavirus cases last week, and the Omicron variant-fuelled outbreak has since ballooned -- marking the failure of a two-year blockade maintained since the start of the pandemic.