North Korea on alert over 'first suspected coronavirus case' State news agency KCNA said a person who defected to South Korea three years ago last week returned across the demarcation line had Covid-19 symptoms. Leader Kim Jong-un held an emergency meeting with top officials, imposing a lockdown in the border city of Kaesong. North Korea, a secretive state, had earlier said it had no Covid-19 cases - but analysts say this was unlikely. "An emergency event happened in Kaesong city where a runaway who went to the south three years ago, a person who is suspected to have been infected with the vicious virus returned on 19 July after illegally crossing the demarcation line," KCNA said.