Kim Jong Un's sister said he was 'seriously unwell' during the COVID outbreak that ravaged North Korea

• Kim Jong Un's sister suggested the North Korean leader was very sick with COVID-19.
• She said her brother was "seriously ill with a high fever" but still helped the country.

The sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said that he was "seriously unwell" with a fever as the country battled its COVID-19 outbreak.

Kim Yo Jong said at a meeting on Wednesday of her brother: "Even though he was seriously ill with a high fever, he could not lie down for a moment thinking about the people he had to take care of until the end in the face of the anti-epidemic war," The Guardian reported.

She did not explicitly say the fever was COVID-19.

The reclusive nation only publicly reported its first COVID-19 case in May of this year, more than two years after the virus started to spread around the world. Before then it had insisted that the virus was not present there.

Its government said last week that around 4.77 million people who had "a fever" had recovered, and 74 died, since late April, the BBC reported.

Kim Jong Un declared a "shining victory" over the virus and said restrictions would be lifted, the BBC reported.

Kim Yo Jong is North Korea's most powerful woman, though little is known about her personal life.

In September 2021, she was promoted to become a member of North Korea's top policymaking body.

On Wednesday, she blamed North Korea's coronavirus outbreak on leaflets that South Korea sent over the border, according to the BBC.