Swine flu reaches North Korea

North Korea has acknowledged for the first time that swine flu had hit the nation, a day after South Korea’s president offered to help the impoverished neighbour fight the virus reported to have already killed dozens.

The North’s ministry of public health confirmed nine cases of swine flu in the border city of Sinuiju, near China, and in the capital Pyongyang, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.

It is the first time that the reclusive North has confirmed a swine flu outbreak in the country. The regime has remained silent despite reports that the virus already has killed more than 40 people in Sinuiju and Pyongyang and was spreading fast.