Agencies
Sinuiju
Record-breaking rain left thousands of people stranded by floods in North Korea over the weekend, prompting leader Kim Jong Un to declare an “emergency”, state media reports.
Photographs show submerged farmland and homes after heavy rain hit Sinuiju city and Uiju county, which border China, according to the Rodong Sinmun. State media said many were later rescued by airlift.
Such natural disasters are likely to compound existing issues like food scarcity and poor infrastructure in North Korea.
The secretive state - which is perhaps better known for concealing negative issues happening within its borders to the outside world - appears to have been relatively open about this latest disaster, with the official newspaper noting it was a “grave crisis”.
However, the report did not mention any casualty figures. It did say more than 4,200 North Korean residents were evacuated after “over 10 planes made as many as 20 consecutive round-trip flights”.
Even more unusual were the photographs of Kim travelling through floodwaters in a black Lexus, according to Gordon Kang, a senior North Korean analyst at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies.
Previously, senior leaders fronted disaster management, Kang pointed out. The pictures of Kim amounted to “never-before-seen imagery”.
State media were also keen to say Kim had “personally directed the battle”, adding that he had declared parts of three provinces as “special disaster emergency zones”.
Flooding is not uncommon in North Korea. In fact, seasonal rains and monsoons have made floods a yearly affair.
