North Korea has hailed its early eradication of COVID-19 as one of this year's key achievements.
 
The Rodong Sinmun newspaper, the ruling party mouthpiece, on Saturday published a special front-page report titled, "Quarantine victory that will go down in global health history." 
 
The paper quoted North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as saying that it is yet another historic victory for the country to defeat a serious and threatening challenge in such a short time and it has demonstrated the great power of the ruling party and the North Korean people.
 
The article gave full credit to Kim's exceptional leadership and claimed the swift extermination of the virus was a miracle. 
 
But it added there were huge economic losses related to lock-downs and the cost of scientific testing, treatment and emergency medical supplies.