¡¡PYONGYANG, Dec. 1 (Xinhuanet) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) claimed Wednesday that the country has no cases ofAIDS.

    "In our country, there are no AIDS patients. But activities forAIDS prevention and control are being conducted to prevent its infiltration from the outside," the Ministry of Public Health's Chief of the State Sanitary Inspection Agency, Choe Ung-jun, told reporters of Korea Today on the occasion of World AIDS Day.

    Choe said AIDS prevention work in the DPRK is now underway after a national AIDS strategic plan for 2003-07 was mapped out for the country.

    Choe also said the DPRK has strengthened cooperation with international organizations in this field and thanked them for offering competent AIDS experts and a wide range of up-to-date medical appliances and test reagents.

    "With the experiences already gained, we will perseveringly conduct AIDS prevention and control activities in the future," Choe added. Enditem