N. Korea delays international film festival by 1 month

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ANKARA (AA) - North Korea has postponed an international film festival by a month amid the coronavirus outbreak.

According to NKNews, a dedicated news website which follows developments in the communist state, Pyongyang International Film Festival will now be held in October.

However, it remains unclear whether this was a precautionary measure against the deadly coronavirus, which originated in China last December.

The annual festival is held in September.

Pyongyang, from where news from independent sources is near-impossible to come out, has not reported any case of the virus, officially knows as COVID-19 which has claimed nearly 4,300 lives globally.

North Korea's authoritarian administration led by Kim Jong-un claims to have taken strict measures to prevent the outbreak in the impoverished country -- which is facing severe sanctions over its nuclear program crippling its economy.

However, South Korea-based Daily NK reported that about 200 soldiers from the North Korean army have died from symptoms that may have been caused by coronavirus.