North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met with officials who were infected with COVID-19 before coming down with fever himself, DPRK media reported this week, as state propaganda continues to push the narrative that Kim sacrificed his own health for his country’s people.

While impossible to verify, the claims in state media nonetheless represent the most explicit statement to date on how the North Korean leader may have been exposed to the virus.

The DPRK’s foreign ministry also denounced New Zealand over its participation in Fortune Guard 22 military exercises, while state media covered