North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s influential sister accused the South of triggering a COVID epidemic in the nation and threatened “retaliation,” state media said Thursday, as Pyongyang declared “winning” over the virus.

North Korea has previously claimed that the COVID epidemic in the isolated nation was caused by “alien objects” along the border with the South, a claim that Seoul has denied.

Despite a prohibition that went into force in 2021, South Korean activists have been flying balloons bearing propaganda pamphlets and US money across the border for years, something Pyongyang has long condemned.

According to the official Korea Central News Agency (KCNA), Kim Jong Un’s sister, Yo Jong, blamed these operations for the country’s COVID epidemic on Thursday, calling them a “crime against humanity.”

According to the article, she stated that several countries, including the World Health Organization, have recognized “the danger of transmitting an infectious disease through contact with contaminated materials.”

She stated that it is “very worrisome that South Korea is sending leaflets, money, sloppy brochures and other items into our region.”

Yo Jong warned that Pyongyang was planning a “heavy retaliatory response” and that if the balloons persisted, “we would reply by wiping not just the virus, but also the South Korean authorities.”

Last month, Seoul stated that there had been “no officially verified cases of COVID infections by mail or materials.”

Kim’s remarks came after her brother hailed a “shining triumph” in the fight against COVID-19, with no new instances of the virus detected in over two weeks.

According to experts, North Korea has one of the poorest healthcare systems in the world, with poorly equipped hospitals, few critical care units, and no COVID-19 therapy medications or vaccinations.

According to Yo Jong’s remarks, Kim Jong Un also suffered from COVID.

Kim “had a terrible fever during the quarantine battle, but he couldn’t lie down for a second because he was thinking about the people he was responsible for,” his sister recalled.