August floods are North Korea’s "worst disaster” since Second World War
The regime acknowledges hundreds of people dead or missing, as well as tens of thousands of displaced people. The United Nations estimates that about 107,000 people are homeless. Countless buildings, roads and bridges have been destroyed. With everything going into its nuclear programme, the regime has no money and so it has ordered the deportation of 100,000 “volunteers” from other provinces to help people affected by typhoon Lion Rock.
Seoul (AsiaNews) – Hundreds of people have been killed or gone missing in the worst flood to hit North Korea. Hundreds of thousands have been displaced, the country's state media said Wednesday.
North Korea’s official news agency KCNA described the rains that began on 29 August as the "worst disaster" since the end of World War II.
Typhoon Lion rock devastated the country for three days, destroying more than 11,600 buildings, severely damaged some 180 sections of road and more than 60 bridges, and disconnected electricity and communication lines, this in a country where they were not well developed.
The mining sector suffered serious damages. Provincial coal mines have been turned into lakes.
For the first time, KCNA provided figures on the flood damage and those displaced, saying that 68,900 people had been forced to flee their homes, compared with a UN figure of 107,000.
The regime ordered an exceptional mobilisation to help the affected areas, which has turned into mass deportation from other parts of the country. The North Korean regime is in fact set to deploy 100,000 people to the northeast region of North Hamgyong Province, the most affected by flooding.
“The scale of the mobilization is being seen as an attempt by the regime to assuage potential anger from the public that may erupt, in light of the astronomical funding that has been diverted toward nuclear weapons development,” wrote the DailyNK.
From a practical standpoint, the central government has issued a directive to local governments to send 5,000 people to assist in the disaster area. In turn, local officials have turned to state factories to select and pay for the “volunteers”.
A source told AsiaNews that “it is normal in cases of emergency for civilian labour to be drafted, but an exodus like this has never seen."
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