China says it can't verify claim that Kim Jong Un was given Chinese COVID-19 vaccine

The Chinese Foreign Ministry on Tuesday responded to report that Kim Jong Un, top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), and his family had been given a Chinese COVID-19 vaccine.

"I don't know where this came from. I can't verify it," the ministry's spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters at Tuesday's daily briefing at which she reaffirmed China's commitment to developing COVID-19 vaccines as a global public good.

According to a Reuters report, Harry Kazianis, a DPRK expert at the Center for the National Interest think tank in Washington, said the Kims and several senior DPRK officials have been vaccinated, citing two unidentified Japanese intelligence sources.

"Kim Jong Un and multiple other high-ranking officials within the Kim family and leadership network have been vaccinated for coronavirus within the last two to three weeks thanks to a vaccine candidate supplied by the Chinese government," Kazianis wrote in an article for online outlet 19FortyFive.

(CGTN)