North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, center, presides over a meeting of the Presidium of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party at the headquarters of the Central Committee in Pyongyang, May 17, in this photo released by the North's official Korean Central News Agency. In the meeting to discuss nationwide antivirus measures, Kim urged officials to stabilize the pandemic situation after North Korea reported its first COVID-19 case last week. Yonhap

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un rebuked officials for failing to respond properly to the COVID-19 outbreak in its early stages as he presided over a ruling Workers' Party meeting, state media said Wednesday.

His message came as the country reported more than 232,880 people with fever symptoms nationwide and six additional deaths, raising total fatalities to 62, as of 6 p.m. the previous day.

At the meeting of the presidium of the political bureau held Tuesday, Kim said that "immaturity" in coping with the crisis from the early stages and the slack response of the country's leading officials has fully revealed the "vulnerable points," according to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

Kim added that such measures against the virus have resulted in further increasing the "complexity and hardships" in the early period of the antivirus campaign when "time is the life."