That could explain why they don't want to call it Asian, but not why they would want to avoid an implication that it came from North Korea specifically.
I'm not paying close attention here, but the "because North Korea..." seems like a useful diversion, if your goals look like:
1 - Announce the seeming eradication of a dangerous invasive species
2 - While minimizing "any excuse" xenophobic human nastiness related to saying "Asian"
3 - And disguise your second goal, to minimize accusations of "pro-Asian Wokery" (or whatever phrase the nut jobs on that side of the culture wars are currently using) from your #2
4 - Also minimize left-wing backlash (I've no clue what phrases they'd use) to your #3 scheme
