Korean Peninsula grapples with drought
Source: Agencies |
June 27, 2012, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
NORTH Korea has dispatched soldiers to pour buckets of water on parched fields and South Korean officials have scrambled to save a rare mollusk threatened by the heat, as the worst dry spell in a century grips the Korean Peninsula.
Parts of North Korea are experiencing the most severe drought since record keeping began nearly 105 years ago, meteorological officials in Pyongyang said.
Two-thirds of North Korea's 24 million people faced chronic food shortages, the United Nations said earlier this month while asking donors for US$198 million in humanitarian aid.
In South Phyongan and North Hwanghae provinces, traditionally North Korea's "breadbasket," thousands of hectares of crops are withering away despite good irrigation systems, officials said. Reservoirs are drying up, creating irrigation problems for farmers, said Ri Sun Pom, chairman of the Rural Economy Committee of Hwangju County.
A group of female soldiers fanned out across a farm in Kohyon-ri, Hwangju County, North Hwanghae Province, with buckets to help water the fields.
South Korean officials also reported the worst drought in more than a century in some areas after nearly two months without significant rain, raising worries about damage to crops and a dangerous drop in water levels at the nation's reservoirs.
The drought has led to deaths of a highly endangered species living in a reservoir in the southern city of Nonsan. Hundreds of cockscomb pearl mussels have died since June 14 because the reservoir's water level has drastically dropped, a local official said. Officials have been trying to move the mussels to water.
Parts of North Korea are experiencing the most severe drought since record keeping began nearly 105 years ago, meteorological officials in Pyongyang said.
Two-thirds of North Korea's 24 million people faced chronic food shortages, the United Nations said earlier this month while asking donors for US$198 million in humanitarian aid.
In South Phyongan and North Hwanghae provinces, traditionally North Korea's "breadbasket," thousands of hectares of crops are withering away despite good irrigation systems, officials said. Reservoirs are drying up, creating irrigation problems for farmers, said Ri Sun Pom, chairman of the Rural Economy Committee of Hwangju County.
A group of female soldiers fanned out across a farm in Kohyon-ri, Hwangju County, North Hwanghae Province, with buckets to help water the fields.
South Korean officials also reported the worst drought in more than a century in some areas after nearly two months without significant rain, raising worries about damage to crops and a dangerous drop in water levels at the nation's reservoirs.
The drought has led to deaths of a highly endangered species living in a reservoir in the southern city of Nonsan. Hundreds of cockscomb pearl mussels have died since June 14 because the reservoir's water level has drastically dropped, a local official said. Officials have been trying to move the mussels to water.
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