North Korea’s leadership is asking for more aid to tackle the coronavirus, as the Kim Jong Un regime continues to deny that there are any cases on North Korean territory, the Financial Times reported Thursday.

"The government has testing kits for COVID-19 and they know how to use them, but [the number of kits are] not sufficient, hence, [officials are] requesting all organizations ... to support them in this regard," a source told the news outlet.

Human rights organization Amnesty International has described North Korea’s healthcare system as "crumbling."

It’s highly unlikely that North Korea has no cases, as the country has a long border with China, where the virus originated.

North Korea is also expanding a key rocket launch facility as the world grapples with the coronavirus pandemic, NPR reported Friday. The Sohae Satellite Launching Station was supposed to be shut down but now appears to be reactivated.

"It's hard to know what it is, but they're clearly reactivating it and preparing for personnel to be there, which suggests that they may want to start using it again," Vipin Narang, an arms control researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology told NPR about the facility. "Maybe they want to test a satellite launch vehicle; maybe they want to test an ICBM; maybe they want to test an engine."

Kim has launched over 100 missile tests since 2011 while the country has faced U.S. sanctions. North Korea and the U.S. have been in nuclear negotiations, with Pyongyang pursuing a path to denuclearization in exchange for reduced sanctions on the isolated Asian nation.

President Trump and Kim met in Vietnam in February 2019 and in Singapore in June 2018 to discuss the nuclear issue but failed to reach a deal. Democrats have criticized Trump’s overtures to Kim, saying that he is giving legitimacy to a dictator.

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