North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Premier Kim Tok Hun visit a flood-affected area near the border with China, in North Pyongan Province, North Korea. (Image: Reuters)
Kim Jong Un warned earlier that he would strictly punish those who “severely neglected” their duties during the floods.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un executed multiple government officers after flooding in the country in July killed thousands in the country’s Jagang province.
South Korean media reported in August that the number of dead and missing in the North could be as high as 1,500, but Kim dismissed the reports as a “grave provocation” and “an insult to the flood-stricken people who are all safe and well.”
According to a report by news agency TV Chosun, Kim Jong Un’s officials shot dead 20 to 30 regional government officials in the flood-stricken area.
He had warned attendees at an emergency party meeting in July that those who “severely neglected” their duties, which in turn led to casualties, would be strictly punished.
Kim said it would take about two to three months to rebuild homes and stabilise the areas affected by floods. Until then, his government plans to accommodate some 15,400 people — a group that includes mothers, children, older adults and disabled soldiers — at facilities in Pyongyang, North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said Saturday.
State media reports said heavy rains in late July left 4,100 houses, 7,410 acres of agricultural fields, and numerous other public buildings, structures, roads and railways flooded in the northwestern city of Sinuiju and the neighbouring town of Uiju.
Traditional allies Russia and China, as well as international aid groups, have offered to provide North Korea with relief supplies, but the North hasn’t publicly expressed a desire to receive them.
“Expressing thanks to various foreign countries and international organizations for their offer of humanitarian support, (Kim) said what we regard as the best in all realms and processes of state affairs is the firm trust in the people and the way of tackling problems thoroughly based on self-reliance,” KCNA said.
Kim made similar comments earlier in the week after Russian President Vladimir Putin offered help, expressing his gratitude but saying that the North has established its own rehabilitation plans and will only ask for Moscow’s assistance if later needed.
While rival South Korea has also offered to send aid supplies, it’s highly unlikely that the North would accept its offer. Tensions between the Koreas are at their highest in years over the North’s growing nuclear ambitions and the South’s expansion of combined military exercises with the United States and Japan.
(with inputs from AP and AFP)
