"The appropriate authorities are currently checking the identity of the person who has returned to North Korea. However, regarding the person reported yesterday as a defector, he has not been registered as a coronavirus patient. He is also not registered in the system as one who has been in contact with any coronavirus patient," Yoon Tae-ho, a senior official at the headquarters, said.
Previously, North Korea announced that the first suspected coronavirus case had been registered in the country, the individual illegally crossed the border with South Korea earlier this month.
The Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) held an emergency meeting on Saturday, attended by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, to discuss the situation in the city of Kaesong, where the suspected case was registered.
South Korea has over 14,000 confirmed coronavirus cases, and the country’s COVID-19 death toll stands at nearly 300, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
North Korea, meanwhile, has maintained zero infections on its soil throughout the entire pandemic.