Kim Jong Un Cartoons

North and South Korean troops exchange fire along border

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North and South Korean troops exchanged fire along their tense border on Sunday, the South’s military said, the first such incident since the rivals took unprecedented steps to lower front-line animosities in late 2018.

Violent confrontations have occasionally occurred along the border, the world’s most heavily fortified. While Sunday’s incident is a reminder of persistent tensions, it didn’t cause any known casualties on either side and is unlikely to escalate, observers said.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff in Seoul said in a statement that North Korean troops fired several bullets at a South Korean guard post inside the border zone. South Korea responded with a total of 20 rounds of warning shots on two occasions before issuing a warning broadcast, it said.

South Korea suffered no casualties, the military said. Defense officials said it’s also unlikely that North Korea had any casualties, since the South Korean warning shots were fired at uninhibited North Korean territory. The North’s official Korean Central News Agency, or KCNA, did not immediately report about the incident.

A preliminary South Korean analysis showed that North Korea’s firing wasn’t likely a calculated provocation, though Seoul will continue examining whether there was any motivation for the action, a South Korean defense official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity, citing department rules.

Farming activities around the North Korean area where the firing occurred continued throughout Sunday and North Korea’s military didn’t display any other suspicious activities after the gunfire, the official said. He said there was a thick fog in the area at the time of the incident.

Later Sunday, South Korea sent a message to North Korea to try to avoid an escalation, but the North did not immediately reply, according to South Korea’s military.

The exchange of fire came a day after North Korea broadcast video of its leader, Kim Jong Un, reappearing in public after a 20-day absence amid intense speculation about his health.

KCNA said Kim attended Friday’s ceremony marking the completion of a fertilizer factory near Pyongyang along with senior officials. State TV showed Kim smiling and walking around factory facilities.

Kim earlier vanished from the public eye after presiding over a Politburo meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party on April 11 to discuss the coronavirus. Speculation about his health began swirling after he missed an April 15 event commemorating the birthday of his grandfather and state founder, Kim Il Sung, something he had never done since inheriting power upon his father Kim Jong Il’s death in late 2011.

The Korean Peninsula remains split along the 248-kilometer (155-mile) -long, 4-kilometer (2.5-mile) -wide border called the Demilitarized Zone. It was originally created as a buffer after the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. But unlike its name, an estimated 2 million mines are peppered inside and near the DMZ, which is also guarded by barbed wire fences, tank traps and combat troops on both sides.

Under a set of agreements to reduce border tensions reached in September 2018, the two Koreas destroyed some of their front-line guard posts and began removing mines from the DMZ later that year. But the efforts stalled amid a deadlock in negotiations between Kim and President Donald Trump meant to convince North Korea to give up its nuclear arsenal. The diplomacy hasn’t made any headway since the second Kim-Trump summit in Vietnam in early 2019 broke down due to disputes over U.S.-led sanctions on North Korea.

Earlier this year, North Korea carried out a slew of missile and other weapons tests, but they were short-range and none posed a direct threat to the U.S. mainland.

The last time there was gunfire along the Korea border was in November 2017, when North Korean soldiers sprayed bullets at a colleague fleeing to South Korea. The defector was hit five times, but survived and is now living in South Korea. South Korea didn’t return fire.

Previously, the two Koreas traded gunfire along the DMZ numerous times, but no deadly clashes have occurred in recent years. A 2015 land mine blast that maimed two South Korean soldiers pushed the Koreas to the brink of an armed conflict. South Korea blamed North Korea for the explosion.

New York schools staying closed through spring, Cuomo says

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York’s schools and colleges will remain shut through the end of the academic year because of the coronavirus pandemic, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Friday.

The order, which applies to 4.2 million students statewide, continues a shutdown that had been set to expire May 15. The Democratic governor said it is simply too risky to reopen when the virus is still sending nearly 1,000 people into the hospital every day.

“We don’t think it’s possible to do that in a way that would keep our children and students and educators safe, so we’re going to have the schools remain closed for the rest of the year, we’re going to continue the distance learning programs,” Cuomo said.

“We must protect our children,” he said. “Every parent and citizen feels that.”

A decision about whether to allow summer school inside classroom buildings will be deferred until the end of May, he said. Whenever schools are allowed to reopen, each district’s plan would need state approval. A decision about whether summer camps will be allowed to operate will also be made later.

The state’s largest school district, in New York City, had already determined it could not reopen before the scheduled end of the school year in June.

Mayor Bill de Blasio announced April 11 that the city would rely on remote learning through the end of the school year. At the time, Cuomo dismissed de Blasio’s announcement as an “opinion,” saying the governor had the power to make decisions on a statewide basis.

Education officials said they welcomed Cuomo’s announcement Friday. Robert Schneider, executive director of the New York State School Boards Association, said it would not be safe to open schools without knowing how to safely transport students and put in place social distancing and other safeguards.

“Clearly, schools are not ready to open for classroom learning, and they won’t be until we can adequately protect our students and staff,” Schneider said in a written statement.

Schools nationwide are evaluating whether they will keep the institutions closed, and potentially even continue remote learning in the fall.

Cuomo made the announcement at his daily coronavirus briefing, which also included updated fatality and infection numbers. Cuomo said 289 people died of COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, on Thursday, down from 306 the day before.

Other coronavirus-related developments in New York:

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LAST PATIENTS LEAVE JAVITS

The last patients left New York City’s Jacob K. Javits Convention center on Friday after a total of 1,095 patients were treated at the convention center as the coronavirus ravaged the city during the month of April.

Dr. Chris Tanski, the chief medical officer at the Javits Center, said the last eight patients left Friday afternoon.

Military personnel including the Army Corps of Engineers turned the massive, glass-walled facility on the Hudson River into a field hospital as part of an effort to relieve the strain on the city’s hospital system posed by the unprecedented coronavirus outbreak.

“We were able to offload some of the volume from the hospitals,” said Tanski, a doctor at Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse who was part of a federal disaster response task force helping New York treated COVID-19 patients.

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WHO ARE THE NEWLY HOSPITALIZED?

The daily count of patients who enter hospitals across the state for treatment of COVID-19 has been hovering around 900 to 1,000, a number that is down from more than 3,000 at the beginning of April but is still troubling, Cuomo said.

“That is still too high a number of new cases to have every day,” said Cuomo, who said he will ask hospitals to start reporting details about newly infected New Yorkers such as where they work, how they commute, and demographic information such as age and gender.

”Literally where do new cases come from?” Cuomo said. “Are they essential workers? Are they people who are staying at home and getting infected by a family member? Or are they essential workers who are still traveling and possibly getting infected at work? Where do they work, how do they commute?”

Cuomo said the information will let the state come up with a tailored battle plan to reduce new daily hospitalizations that are still a burden on the health care system.

“Let’s drill down on those 1,000 new cases,” he said. “Where are they coming from? Why is the infection rate continuing? Who’s getting infected and let’s get more targeted in our response.”

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In other developments:

De Blasio said the city is mourning a paramedic from Colorado who died of COVID-19 after traveling to the city help with the response to the pandemic.

“I’ve got to tell you, it just hurts that such a good man has made the ultimate sacrifice for us,” the mayor said.

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Matthews reported from New York City. Associated Press writer Carolyn Thompson contributed from Buffalo.

Buffett remains optimistic about future despite coronavirus

 

FILE - In this May 5, 2019, file photo Warren Buffett, Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, speaks following the annual Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting in Omaha, Neb. Buffett will hold a drastically scaled-back version of Berkshire Hathaway's annual meeting on Saturday, May 2, 2020, because of the coronavirus outbreak. No shareholders will be allowed at this year's online meeting, but Buffett will still offer some commentary during a brief question-and-answer session at the event. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik, File)

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Billionaire investor Warren Buffett doesn’t know how or when the economy will recover from the coronavirus outbreak shutdown, but he remains optimistic in the long-term future of the United States.

Buffett said Saturday at Berkshire Hathaway’s online annual meeting that there’s no way to predict the economic future right now because the possibilities are still too varied. Berkshire’s meeting was held without any of the roughly 40,000 shareholders who typically attend because of the virus.

“We do not know exactly what happens when you voluntarily shut down a substantial portion of your society,” Buffett said because it has never been done. He said it may take several years to understand all the economic implications of the coronavirus outbreak, but it hasn’t changed his long-term view because the country has endured wars and depressions before.

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“In the end, the answer is never bet against America,” Buffett said.

It’s not clear how long the virus will continue to weigh on the economy, Buffett said. He said there could still be unpleasant surprises from the virus and the way people react to it.

“You’re dealing with a huge unknown,” Buffett said, so businesses and investors can’t be certain of what will happen in the near future.

Buffett said he doesn’t expect major banks to have significant financial problems during the virus crisis because they are in much better shape than they were during the financial crisis of 2008.

All of the events surrounding the annual meeting, including a trade show where Berkshire companies sell their products, were cancelled this year because of the coronavirus pandemic, and Buffett had a different partner for the question session.

Instead of sitting next to business partner Charlie Munger in an arena filled with shareholders, Buffett was joined this year by Berkshire Vice Chairman Greg Abel, who oversees all of the company’s non-insurance businesses, to answer questions in front of a Yahoo Finance camera.

“It’s certainly a break with years and years of tradition with Buffett and Munger,” said Andy Kilpatrick, a retired stockbroker who wrote a Buffett biography and has attended every annual meeting since 1985.

The fact that Abel appeared alongside Buffett will add to speculation that he could one day succeed the 89-year-old billionaire as CEO, but it likely also reflects the fact that Abel is based relatively close to Omaha, in Des Moines, Iowa. Abel and fellow longtime executive Ajit Jain, who oversees Berkshire’s insurance businesses, are seen as the two most likely successor candidates although Buffett has no plans to retire.

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Omaha missed out on the profits that comes from all the out-of-town visitors attending the meeting. Local economic development officials estimate that Berkshire Hathaway’s annual meeting normally provides a $21.3 million boost to the area.

Buffett and Abel discussed the nearly $50 billion loss that Berkshire reported Saturday morning and the huge pile of cash the company is holding.

Berkshire said it lost $49.7 billion, or $30,653 per Class A share, during the first quarter. That’s down from last year’s profit of $21.66 billion, or $13,209 per Class A share.

The biggest factor in the loss was a $54.5 billion loss on the value of Berkshire’s investment portfolio as the stock market declined sharply after the coronavirus outbreak began.

Berkshire’s revenue grew 1 percent to $61.27 billion. The company said revenue slowed considerably in April as the virus outbreak negatively affected most of its businesses. Berkshire closed several of its retail businesses, such as See’s Candy and the Nebraska Furniture Mart, this spring while BNSF railroad and its insurance and utility businesses continued operating while adjusting to reduced demand.

Berkshire is sitting on a pile of more than $137 billion cash because Buffett has struggled to find major acquisitions for the company recently and he wants to be prepared to endure any crisis. Edward Jones analyst Jim Shanahan said it was striking that Buffett didn’t find any bargains to invest in at the end of the first quarter.

“The lack of investment activity really sticks out,” Shanahan said.

Buffett said that Berkshire sold roughly $6.5 billion of stock in April when it unloaded his company’s roughly 10% stakes in the four largest airlines. Buffett said he decided that he made a mistake in how he valued airlines, so he sold all of Berkshire’s American, Delta, Southwest and United Continental airline stock.

Buffett said he hasn’t made any big deals during the coronavirus crisis because he hasn’t seen any on attractive terms. He said many companies have been able to borrow money in the market in the past two months because the Federal Reserve stepped in to keep markets moving, so they haven’t turned to Berkshire for help.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. owns more than 90 companies, including the railroad and insurance, utility, furniture and jewelry businesses. The company also has major investments in such companies as Apple, American Express, Coca-Cola and Bank of America.

Emerging from lockdown: ’46 days in the house was enough’

 
(AP) — From the United States to Europe and Asia, people in many parts of the world are emerging from their homes as virus-related restrictions begin to ease and springtime temperatures climb.

But the global pandemic took a turn for the worse in other places. India on Sunday reported more than 2,600 new cases, its biggest single-day jump. That followed record increases in neighboring Pakistan and Russia the previous day. There was also worrying news from Afghanistan, where about a third tested positive in a random test.

China, which reported two new cases, is seeing a surge in visitors to tourist spots, many newly reopened, after domestic travel restrictions were relaxed ahead of a five-day holiday that runs through Tuesday.

Nearly 1.7 million people visited Beijing parks on the first two days of the holiday, and Shanghai’s main tourist spots welcomed more than a million visitors, according to Chinese media reports. Many spots limited the number of daily visitors to 30% of capacity or less, keeping crowds below average.

Masks were worn widely around the world, from runners in Spain to beach-goers in the southern United States. In New York City’s Central Park, joggers moved past each other without a glance on Saturday, and a steady stream of folks left tips for a trio working their way through a set of jazz standards alfresco.

“It’s great to have an audience after all these weeks,” saxophonist Julia Banholzer, a native of Germany, said. “All my dates have been canceled through September, and I don’t know if any will come back this year. New York is a tough place, but this is just another tough period we need to get through.”

Neighboring New Jersey reopened state parks, though several had to turn people away after reaching a 50% limit in their parking lots. Margie Roebuck and her husband were among the first on the sand at Island Beach State Park. “Forty-six days in the house was enough,” she said.

In Spain, many ventured out Saturday for the first time since a lockdown began on March 14.

“I feel good, but tired. You sure notice that it has been a month and I am not in shape,” Cristina Palomeque said in Barcelona. “Some people think it may be too early, as I do, but it is also important to do exercise for health reasons.”

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez asked citizens to remain vigilant. COVID-19 has caused more than 25,100 deaths in Spain.

“Until we have a vaccine, we are going to see more outbreaks,” Sánchez said. “What we need to guarantee is that these outbreaks do not put our national health system in danger.”

The divide in the United States between those who want lockdowns to end and those who want to move cautiously extended to Congress.

The Republican-majority Senate will reopen Monday, while the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives stays shuttered. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s decision to convene 100 senators gives President Donald Trump, a Republican, the imagery he wants of America getting back to work, despite health worries and a lack of testing.

In India, air force helicopters showered flower petals on hospitals in several cities Sunday to thank doctors, nurses and police who have been at the forefront of the battle against the pandemic. U.S. Navy and Air Force fighter jets flew over Atlanta, Baltimore and Washington, D.C., on Saturday in honor of health care workers.

The number of confirmed cases in India neared 40,000 as the country of 1.3 billion people marked the 40th day of a nationwide lockdown that has upended lives and millions of jobs. The official death toll reached 1,301.

Afghanistan’s health ministry said Sunday that 156 people were confirmed positive out of 500 randomly tested in Kabul, the capital. Ministry spokesman Wahid Mayar called the results concerning and said that more cases would surely be found if the government was able to conduct more tests.

Russia announced 9,633 new cases Saturday, and Pakistan, nearly 1,300, both one-day highs. More than half of Russia’s new cases were in Moscow, which is considering establishing temporary hospitals at sports complexes and shopping malls to deal with the influx of patients.

The virus has killed more than 240,000 people worldwide, including more than 66,000 in the United States and more than 24,000 each in Italy, Britain, France and Spain, according to a count kept by Johns Hopkins University. Health experts warn a second wave of infections could hit unless testing is expanded dramatically.

For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms. For some, especially older adults and those with health problems, it can cause severe illness such as pneumonia, or death.

There are economic factors to consider as well. The shutdown of businesses has plunged the global economy into its deepest slump since the 1930s and wiped out millions of jobs.

Singapore announced Saturday it will let selected businesses reopen from May 12 in a cautious rollback of a two-month partial lockdown, and Sri Lanka said the government and private sector should resume work from May 11 “to ensure a return to normalcy in civilian life and to revive the economy.”

Bangladesh, which opened thousands of garment factories last month, confirmed 552 new cases on Saturday. The South Asian country’s health care system is fragile, and authorities say they would not be able to provide ventilation and intensive care support for more than 500 people at one time.

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Porter reported from New York. AP journalists around the world contributed to this report.

Stay Home While I Work Cartoons

Whitmer: Stay-home order still in place; some return to work

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said Friday that Michigan’s stay-at-home order remains in effect through May 15 despite Republicans’ refusal to extend her underlying coronavirus emergency declaration, as she amended it to allow construction, real estate and more outdoor work to resume in person next week.

The Democratic governor, who may be sued by the GOP-led Legislature, addressed reporters the same day that President Donald Trump tweeted she should “make a deal” with conservatives who protested her restrictions at the Capitol a day earlier. She denounced the protest as ”disturbing,” noting there were swastikas, Confederate flags, nooses and some people with assault weapons who “do not represent who we are as Michiganders.”

“We’re not in a political crisis where we should just negotiate and find some common ground here. We’re in a public health crisis,” Whitmer said. ”We’re in the midst of a global pandemic that has already killed almost 4,000 people in our state.”

Whitmer said she will continue listening to epidemiologists, public health experts and business leaders — “not to pollsters and not to people with political agendas.”

The state health department reported nearly 1,000 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 77 more deaths, bringing the totals to more than 42,300 cases and 3,866 deaths.

Whitmer late Thursday issued directives both proclaiming that the coronavirus emergency continues under a 1945 law and declaring new states of emergency and disaster under a 1976 law after lawmakers refused her request for a 28-day extension. The declarations are the foundation of her stay-home order and other measures to curb the spread of the virus.

Republicans, who want more input on gradually restarting the economy and say a ban on elective medical and dental procedures should be lifted, also voted to authorize a lawsuit challenging her authority and actions. They question the legality of her stay-home measure since the Legislature did not lengthen the state of emergency.

But Whitmer said the stay-home order rests on gubernatorial powers in the 1945 law, which does not require legislative consent nor an extension.

“If the 1976 law supersedes the ’45 law, they would have repealed it. It was an intentional decision to keep both of these sources of authority for the chief executive of the state of Michigan,” she said. “It is for times like these that that authority is really important, when lives are on the line.”

The later law has a provision saying it should not be construed to “limit, modify, or abridge” a governor’s authority to proclaim an emergency under the earlier law or to exercise powers vested by the state constitution.

House Speaker Lee Chatfield, a Republican, said “the judiciary will have the final say.”

Whitmer last week let some businesses like plant nurseries and bike repair shops reopen, as well as stores selling nonessential supplies for curbside pickup or delivery.

On Friday, she allowed work that is traditionally and primarily done outdoors — forestry workers, power equipment technicians, parking enforcers — to resume next Thursday. Construction workers, real estate agents, appraisers, brokers, inspectors and surveyors also will be able to work in person. So will manufacturing workers who make items like partitions, cubicles and furniture that will help businesses modify their workplaces amid the pandemic.

Whitmer hinted that auto plants may soon reopen as the curve of cases continues to flatten, as long as the United Auto Workers union can ensure employees feel safe — similarly to how building trade unions backed the construction restart plan.

Trump earlier encouraged Whitmer — whom the public has backed over him in polling — to “give a little” and “put out the fire” with protesters, attempting to strike a balance between supporting demonstrators who express affinity for him and minding the advice of his scientific experts.

Some of the hundreds of protesters — many without face coverings — entered the Capitol on Thursday and demanded to be let onto the House floor, which is not allowed. The gallery was closed to the public to allow room for representatives and reporters to spread apart. Some demonstrators in the Senate gallery were openly carrying guns, which is legal in the Statehouse but was criticized by Democratic lawmakers.

Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey, a Republican who had encouraged people to protest, said many did so safely and responsibly. But he said several others are a “bunch of jackasses” who used intimidation and threats.

“I condemn their behavior and denounce their tactics,” he said. “Their actions hurt their cause and steal from the rights of others by creating an environment where responsible citizens do not feel safe enough to express themselves.”

Trump has previously tried to pressure the first-term governor, who leads a battleground state and is on presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s running mate list.

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Associated Press writer Zeke Miller in Washington contributed to this report.

Kim reappears in public, ending absence amid health rumors

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made his first public appearance in 20 days as he celebrated the completion of a fertilizer factory near Pyongyang, state media said Saturday, ending an absence that had triggered global rumors that he may be seriously ill.

The North’s official Korean Central News Agency reported that Kim attended the ceremony Friday in Sunchon with other senior officials, including his sister Kim Yo Jong, who many analysts predict would take over if her brother is suddenly unable to rule.

State media showed videos and photos of Kim wearing a black Mao suit and constantly smiling, walking around facilities, applauding, cutting a huge red ribbon with a scissor handed by his sister, and smoking inside and outside of buildings while talking with other officials.

Seemingly thousands of workers, many of them masked, stood in lines at the massive complex, roaring in celebration and releasing balloons into the air. A sign installed on a stage where Kim sat with other senior officials read: “Sunchon Phosphatic Fertilizer Factory; Completion Ceremony; May 1, 2020.”

There were no clear signs that Kim was in discomfort. He was shown moving without a walking stick, like the one he used in 2014 when he was recovering from a presumed ankle surgery. However, he was also seen riding a green electric cart, which appeared similar to a vehicle he used in 2014.

It was Kim’s first public appearance since April 11, when he presided over a ruling Workers’ Party meeting to discuss the coronavirus and reappoint his sister as an alternate member of the powerful decision-making Political Bureau of the party’s Central Committee. That move confirmed her substantial role in the government.

Speculation about his health swirled after he missed the April 15 birthday celebration for his late grandfather Kim Il Sung, the country’s most important holiday, for the first time since taking power in 2011.

The possibility of high-level instability raised troubling questions about the future of the secretive, nuclear-armed state that has been steadily building an arsenal meant to threaten the U.S. mainland while diplomacy between Kim and President Donald Trump has stalled.

Some experts say South Korea, as well as its regional neighbors and ally Washington, must begin preparing for the possible chaos that could come if Kim is sidelined by health problems or even dies. Worst-case scenarios include North Korean refugees flooding South Korea or China or military hard-liners letting loose nuclear weapons.

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“The world is largely unprepared for instability in North Korea,” said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul. “Washington, Seoul and Tokyo need tighter coordination on contingency plans while international organizations need more resources and less controversy over the role of China.”

South Korea’s Unification Ministry, which deals with inter-Korean affairs, confirmed Kim’s visit to the fertilizer factory and said it was part of his efforts to emphasize economic development. The ministry called for discretion on information related to North Korea, saying that the “groundless” rumors of past weeks have caused “unnecessary confusion and cost” for South Korea’s society and financial markets.

South Korea’s government, which has a mixed record of tracking Pyongyang’s ruling elite, repeatedly downplayed speculation that Kim, believed to be 36, was in poor health following surgery.

The office of President Moon Jae-in said it detected no unusual signs in North Korea or any emergency reaction by its ruling party, military and cabinet. Seoul said it believed Kim was still managing state affairs but staying at an unspecified location outside Pyongyang.

The KCNA said workers at the fertilizer factory broke into “thunderous cheers” for Kim, who it said is guiding the nation in a struggle to build a self-reliant economy in the face of “head wind” by “hostile forces.”

The report didn’t mention any direct comment toward Washington or Seoul.

Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump declined to comment about Kim’s reappearance but said he would “have something to say about it at the appropriate time.”

State media reported Kim was carrying out routine activities outside public view, such as sending greetings to the leaders of Syria, Cuba and South Africa and expressing gratitude to workers building tourist facilities in the coastal town of Wonsan, where some speculated he was staying.

It wasn’t immediately clear what caused Kim’s absence in past weeks. In 2014, Kim vanished from the public eye for nearly six weeks and then reappeared with a cane. South Korea’s spy agency said he had a cyst removed from his ankle.

Analysts say his health could become an increasing factor in years ahead: he’s overweight, smokes and drinks, and has a family history of heart issues.

If he’s suddenly unable to rule, some analysts said his sister would be installed as leader to continue Pyongyang’s heredity dynasty that began after World War II.

But others question whether core members of North Korea’s elite, mostly men in their 60s or 70s, would find it hard to accept a young and untested female leader who lacks military credentials. Some predict a collective leadership or violent power struggles.

Following an unusually provocative run in missile and nuclear tests in 2017, Kim used the Winter Olympics in South Korea to initiate negotiations with Washington and Seoul in 2018. That led to a surprising series of summits, including three between Kim and Trump.

But negotiations have faltered in past months over disagreements in exchanging sanctions relief and disarmament steps, which raised doubts about whether Kim would ever fully deal away an arsenal he likely sees as his strongest guarantee of survival.

Kim entered 2020 vowing to build up his nuclear stockpile and defeat sanctions through economic “self-reliance.” Some experts say the North’s self-imposed lockdown amid the coronavirus crisis could potentially hamper his ability to mobilize people for labor.