Flooding kills 88, ruins crops in N. Korea
Source: Agencies |
July 30, 2012, Monday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
SEVERE flooding across North Korea has killed 88 people and left tens of thousands homeless, threatening to worsen the country's already chronic food shortage.
The floods caused by torrential rains and a typhoon this month caused "big human and material losses," North Korea's official KCNA news agency said late on Saturday, stranding nearly 63,000 people.
It says about 4,800 hectares of cropland were washed away and 25,700 hectares submerged.
Since the mid-1990s, North Korea's farm sector has often been devastated by either floods or drought.
Even before the rain and typhoon this summer, the country's dysfunctional food distribution system, very high inflation and foreign sanctions imposed because of Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs had contributed to what appears to be severe hunger in North Korea.
In April, after a North Korean rocket launch failed, the country abandoned an agreement with the US, after Washington suspended 240,000 tons of food aid it had promised to North Korea as part of the deal.
Talk that North Korea's young leader Kim Jong-un plans to reform the economy is helping drive rice prices higher.
Kim, who is in his late 20s, took over last December on the death of his father.
The young ruler, dropping his father's reclusive leadership style, surprisingly confirmed last week that he was married and gave the thumbs up to a performance featuring show tunes and Mickey Mouse.
A recent United Nations report classified 7.2 million of North Korea's 24 million population as "chronic poor."
The floods caused by torrential rains and a typhoon this month caused "big human and material losses," North Korea's official KCNA news agency said late on Saturday, stranding nearly 63,000 people.
It says about 4,800 hectares of cropland were washed away and 25,700 hectares submerged.
Since the mid-1990s, North Korea's farm sector has often been devastated by either floods or drought.
Even before the rain and typhoon this summer, the country's dysfunctional food distribution system, very high inflation and foreign sanctions imposed because of Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs had contributed to what appears to be severe hunger in North Korea.
In April, after a North Korean rocket launch failed, the country abandoned an agreement with the US, after Washington suspended 240,000 tons of food aid it had promised to North Korea as part of the deal.
Talk that North Korea's young leader Kim Jong-un plans to reform the economy is helping drive rice prices higher.
Kim, who is in his late 20s, took over last December on the death of his father.
The young ruler, dropping his father's reclusive leadership style, surprisingly confirmed last week that he was married and gave the thumbs up to a performance featuring show tunes and Mickey Mouse.
A recent United Nations report classified 7.2 million of North Korea's 24 million population as "chronic poor."
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