Asahi: "China dispatches over 50 military medical personnel to North Korea... unclear connection to Kim"

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyeon-jin] The Japanese Asahi Shimbun reported on the 26th that the Chinese Communist Party appears to have dispatched a medical expert team of about 50 people from the People's Liberation Army General Hospital (301 Hospital) in Beijing to North Korea on or before the 23rd.

Asahi conveyed that a Chinese Communist Party official explained this on the 25th. Asahi assessed that the connection to North Korean State Affairs Commission Chairman Kim Jong-un, who has recently been rumored to have health issues, is unclear, and that the two countries may have taken a cooperative stance in responding to the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19).

Asahi reported, "The 301 Hospital is known as China's top-level medical institution and has been responsible for the treatment and health management of past Chinese Communist Party leaders." It added the explanation from a Chinese Communist Party official that the medical team entered North Korea under the leadership of Song Tao, head of the Chinese Communist Party's International Liaison Department, who has been in charge of the axis of North Korea-China diplomacy.

Regarding this, the newspaper noted that dispatching a medical team of 50 people seems excessive if it were solely to respond to Chairman Kim personally, and there is also a view that the purpose is broad support related to COVID-19 response.

A North Korea-China relations official in Beijing told Asahi, "The North Korean side explained that 'there is no noisy situation'." Although there was speculation in Beijing that the Russian Embassy to North Korea presented a flower basket to the North Korean side on the 23rd, possibly conveying something related to Chairman Kim's condition, Asahi reported that the North Korean Rodong Sinmun stated on the 24th that it was to commemorate the first anniversary of Chairman Kim's visit to Russia.

The previous day, a foreign media outlet reported that China dispatched a delegation including medical experts to North Korea on the 23rd to advise on Chairman Kim, but drew a line saying it is currently unknown what this implies regarding Chairman Kim's health.

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