North Korea Suffers Worst Rains Ever

Floods caused by the largest rains ever recorded in parts of North Korea have destroyed more than one-tenth of the impoverished country's farmland at the height of the growing season, official media reported Wednesday.

The U.N. food agency estimated the damage claimed by the North so far was about a quarter of the crop losses the country said it suffered in 1995 floods. That previous disaster, along with mismanagement of the economy and the loss of Pyongyang's Soviet benefactor, led to famine that is believed to have killed as many as 2 million North Koreans.

Precipitation along some areas of the Taedong River were the "largest ever in the history" of measurements taken by the country's weather agency, the North's Korean Central News Agency reported.

"It is hard to expect a high-grain output owing to the uninterrupted rainstorms at the most important time for the growth of crops," KCNA said.

The amount of detail given in official reports on this year's storms by the secretive North appeared to indicate the desperation of the regime and amount to a cry for help from the outside world.

The damage has submerged, buried or washed away more than 11 percent of rice and corn fields in the country, KCNA reported, citing Agriculture Ministry official Ri Jae Hyon.

"The damage to farm crops by the current torrential rains is heavier than the previous ones in our country," Ri was quoted as saying.

The rain was worse than downpours that battered the country 40 years ago, KCNA reported, noting the total rain from Aug. 7-11 averaged 20.6 inches, 2.1 inches more than in the previous disaster in that same month in 1967.

The North is especially susceptible to bad weather because of a vicious circle where people strip hillsides of natural vegetation to create more arable land to grow food — increasing the risk of floods.

North Korean state media earlier said the summer storms that battered wide swaths of the country left "hundreds" dead or missing, and other aid officials have said the toll was at least 200.

The U.N. World Food Program estimated based on its previous surveys that the amount of damage the North Koreans claimed to its fields, if confirmed, would result in losses of about 450,000 tons of crops — nearly half of the 1 million ton annual shortage the country already faces.

Still, the amount is less than the total 2 million tons the North said were lost in 1995 floods at the start of its famine, said WFP spokesman Paul Risley.

"Nonetheless, this would be an extremely serious reduction in the amount of the harvest," he said.

North Korean officials reported 200,000-300,000 people were now homeless, with the total number of those affected probably much larger, Risley said.

Citizens worked to rebuild roads, clear debris and shore up sandbags along rivers Wednesday in flood-affected areas outside Pyongyang, APTN television reported from North Korea. Video footage showed electricity poles tilted sideways and a farmhouse that appeared to have been swept down a hillside by the rain.

Roadways and river banks were torn apart by the floodwaters, and part of a corn field appeared submerged.

A local official appealed for help and said the storms had caused "great damage."

"What is badly needed first is rice, cement, daily necessities and medicines," Tong Chang Son, vice chairman of a government committee in South Phyongan province, told APTN. "I would be grateful if there is international aid, for there is great damage on a nationwide scale."

Tensions over the North's nuclear weapons program have constrained feeding efforts as other countries were reluctant to donate aid to the country, although the situation has recently improved and North Korea shut off its sole operating nuclear reactor last month.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said Washington was considering its options for how it can help the North Koreans.

"It's a serious humanitarian issue, and we would like to be part of the effort to assist, so we need to evaluate the situation and see what we can do to help," he told reporters in Shenyang, China, before the start of talks on the North's nuclear program.

Risley said the WFP had planned to double by September the number of those it feeds to 1.9 million people — mostly children and nursing mothers — after a recent donation of $20 million worth of food from South Korea.

Because of the floods, that aid was expected to be diverted and the WFP will likely launch a new international appeal for assistance, Risley said.

The WFP is able to produce critical food items such as biscuits from factories that it runs inside North Korea. However, it still needs outside commodities like wheat and rice that are shipped via roads and rail — which the North has said were hard-hit by the latest weather.

"We're very concerned by the reports of damages to infrastructure, since that may affect our ability to quickly bring in emergency food rations," Risley said.

The North Korean military has been mobilized to assist recovery efforts, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported Wednesday, citing unnamed South Korean government officials.

North Korea was also devastated by floods last year where South Korean intelligence estimated 800-900 people were left dead or missing.