Crowds of North Koreans visited statues of former leaders across the country on Wednesday to lay flowers on the anniversary of founder Kim Il Sung’s death, state television reported, in the largest show of citizen gatherings since Kim Jong Un’s grave warnings over COVID-19 last week.

Tens to hundreds of people approached the statues of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang, all nine provincial capitals, and four special cities, footage aired on Korean Central Television (KCTV) throughout Wednesday showed.

All visitors were seen wearing masks in the footage, and while