Some quick analysis on KJU & his latest politburo meeting on #COVID19 yesterday because this is not just about #NorthKorea reporting a potential outbreak for the first time, as significant & newsworthy as that is. Background: Despite sharing a long border with China, #NorthKorea claims it does not have a single confirmed case of #COVID19, which is hard to believe. But without access, we have no way right now of knowing the truth, and I think we need to be skeptical of all info from #DPRK.

I’m having flashbacks to Sept. 2008, when KJU’s father, then-leader Kim Jong Il, failed to show up for a military parade marking a major national anniversary. THAT was cause for concern. We put out a news alert. (I was AP’s Korea bureau chief at the time) We hounded intel officials, and finally got confirmation from multiple reliable sources that Kim Jong Il had suffered a stroke a few weeks earlier & was in a coma. #NorthKorea kept this quiet for weeks! That's how much of a hold on information the regime has.

#NorthKorea has published #KimJongUn take on what happened in Hanoi. He positions himself as the rational, flexible person in US-DPRK #nuclear negotiations. Essentially says US team came unprepared & disorganized. #KCNA Kim: “In a word, the U.S. did not ready itself to sit face to face with us and settle the problem nor had a clear direction and methodology.” So Kim’s getting a taste for how things work these days in the White House.