Floods in North Korea: Kim Jong-un orders full state support

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at a Politburo meeting of the ruling Workers' Party in North Korea on June 29, 2021 in Pyongyang.

AP

Text by: RFI Follow

3 min

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has ordered full material and financial support to the flood-hit South Hamgyong Province in North Korea.

After heavy rains hit the region considered to be the breadbasket of the country earlier this month, nearly 1,200 homes were damaged, some 5,000 residents had to be evacuated and vast agricultural land was devastated.

A particularly worrying situation as the hermit kingdom is expected to face a serious food shortage this year.

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With our correspondent in Seoul,

Louis Palligiano

Houses flooded to the roof, rivers turned into torrential streams and partially collapsed bridges, since Saturday North Korean Central Television (KCTV) has been broadcasting footage of the floods ravaging South Hamgyong province in the east of the country. .

State media reported on Sunday that northern leader Kim Jong-un has ordered “strong national support”, including sending relief supplies to disaster areas, as part of an emergency meeting of the region's military commission.

A "

food situation under pressure

"

Already hard hit by typhoons and floods that devastated its main agricultural areas last summer, the North, more isolated than ever against the backdrop

of the Covid-19 pandemic

, risks facing a food shortage this year.

In July, the FAO was already sounding the alarm: some 860,000 tonnes of grain will be missing, according to the United Nations Food Agency.

Last June, the North Korean number one admitted that his country was facing a "

food situation under pressure

", and Pyongyang has been leading all-out flood prevention efforts in recent months to prevent further damage.

No specific details on the damage caused by the latest bad weather have yet been disclosed.

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  • North Korea

  • Kim Jong-un

  • Natural disasters