North Korea was reportedly cautious over China and Russia's offers to provide their domestically developed COVID-19 vaccines to the impoverished country.

A ruling Democratic Party(DP) representative, who attended the National Intelligence Service’s(NIS) briefing to the parliamentary intelligence committee on Wednesday, said Pyongyang did not respond to the offers from Beijing and Moscow.

The NIS, however, declined to clarify whether the vaccines were offered free of charge.

The DP representative suggested that the North was likely cautious since the safety of the Chinese and Russian-made vaccines had not been guaranteed at the time.

The NIS reported that the World Health Organization’s(WHO) global vaccine project known as COVAX Facility has set aside enough AstraZeneca vaccines for one million people to send to North Korea.

Main opposition People Power Party(PPP) Rep. Ha Tae-keung, who sits on the intelligence committee, told Yonhap News that the NIS believes North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and his family have yet to be vaccinated.

[Photo : YONHAP News]