Torrential rains have seen 730 homes flooded in a country the World Food Programme says has ‘widespread malnutrition’
A submerged Han River park by flooded Han River is seen in Seoul, South Korea, August 6, 2020. Neighbouring North Korea has also been hit by floods brught on by torrential rains. Picture: REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji— North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspected a rural area hit by flooding as torrential rains threaten to wipe out farmland and deal another blow to a virus-damaged economy set for its biggest contraction in more than two decades.
North Korea’s state TV has reported that 10 other counties have seen more than 500 ml of rain since Thursday, according to NK News, a specialised news service for the country. Heavy rains have hit the Pyongan and Hwanghae provinces, the country’s breadbasket provinces that UN World Food Programme data indicates account for about 70% of its rice production.
The WFP, which has operations in North Korea, has said about 40% of the population is undernourished, adding “food insecurity and malnutrition are widespread”. Despite the troubles, North Korea has rejected the offer made by US President Donald Trump’s administration for the “complete, verifiable and irreversible” dismantling of North Korea’s atomic arsenal before it can receive relief from sanctions choking its paltry economy. Pyongyang’s leaders see giving up the weapons as political suicide.
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