State media reported the decision three months after Pyongyang's first public acknowledgement of the virus outbreak in the isolated country.

Kim presided over a COVID-19 meeting on Wednesday and ordered the easing of anti-epidemic measures imposed in May, adding North Korea must maintain a "steel-strong anti-epidemic barrier".

Under the shift to a "normal" anti-epidemic approach from a "top-level" system, North Korea dropped its mask-wearing obligation and other rules such as a limit on service time of commercial and public facilities in all areas except border regions, according to the official KCNA news agency.

The North recommended those experiencing respiratory symptoms should keep wearing masks, and urged people to maintain vigilance against "abnormal things" which Pyongyang has cited as the cause of infections.

The North has blamed its COVID-19 outbreak on "alien things" near its border with the South, with the leader's sister Kim Yo-jong vowing "deadly retaliation" on Seoul for causing the outbreak.

North Korean defectors and activists in the South have for decades floated balloons carrying anti-Pyongyang leaflets into the North, along with food, medicine, money and other items.

North Korea has never confirmed how many of its citizens caught COVID-19, apparently due to a lack of means to conduct widespread testing, only reporting the daily numbers of patients showing fever symptoms.

The tally rose to 4.77 million, with the country reporting no new cases since late last month.

The North's virus declaration comes despite no known vaccine program.

Instead, it says it relied on lockdowns, domestically produced medicines, and what Kim called the "advantageous Korean-style socialist system".

Infectious disease experts have cast doubts on North Korea's claims of progress, citing an absence of independent data.

Australian Associated Press