The South Korean military said on Sunday it is trying to confirm Pyongyang's claim that a North Korean defector recently crossed the heavily fortified inter-Korean border to return home with suspected virus symptoms.

A Unification Ministry official also said the ministry is checking related information together with other government agencies.

The North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said on Sunday that leader Kim Jong-un convened an emergency politburo meeting of the ruling Workers' Party and adopted the "maximum emergency system" against the coronavirus after a defector returned home with suspected COVID-19 symptoms.

The KCNA said that the person is a “runaway” who had defected to South Korea three years ago and secretly returned across the Military Demarcation Line separating the two Koreas last Sunday.

South Korea's military, the Unification Ministry and the National Intelligence Service are reportedly checking the North Korean claim through various channels.