Deadly Flooding from Typhoon Lionrock Displaces Thousands in North Korea, Which Issues Rare Plea for Help

Associated Press
Published: September 12,2016
More than 100 people have died and thousands have been left homeless in North Korea after Typhoon Lionrock brought heavy rains to the country’s northern-most province.
Brigades of soldiers from around the country have been enlisted to help the victims of the disastrous flooding, but North Korea has also made a rare public call for aid, CNN reports.
"It's not unheard of, but it's rare for the North Korean government to make an open and public call for assistance," Bradley Williams, an international relations professor at City University in Hong Kong, told CNN.

A report from the Korean Central News Agency states that the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea sent a public appeal to party members and service personnel of the Korean People's Army to pool their efforts toward recovery operations, CNN says. A nationwide 200-day mass mobilization campaign aimed at boosting the economy has been repurposed for flood relief, the report also stated. 

"Considering North Korea made this call in English, perhaps there is a distant hope that given the scale of the disaster, maybe the international community might respond," said Williams.
North Korean media have said that Typhoon Lion Rock brought the worst single case of downpours and high winds since 1945, though that claim couldn't be verified.
According to a U.N. report issued by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the floods displaced tens of thousands of people and destroyed homes, buildings and critical infrastructure.

Deadly flooding has displaced thousands in North Korea. International aid agencies are struggling to reach those in the flood-hit communities.
(Twitter/IFRC Asia Pacific ‏)

The report said the government has confirmed 133 people were killed and another 395 missing. It said more than 35,500 houses, schools and public buildings were damaged, with 69 percent completely destroyed. It reported widespread inundation of farmland and at least 140,000 people in urgent need of assistance.The hardest-hit areas, parts of which remain inaccessible, are Musan and Yonsa counties near the Chinese border in the northern tip of the country.
North Korea's state media reported Sunday that high winds and heavy rainfall swept over several cities and counties, causing buildings to collapse and leaving railways, roads, parts of the electric power system, factories and farmlands destroyed or submerged.
It said a mass recovery effort has been launched.
(MORE: Typhoon Lionrock Leaves 11 Dead in Japan)
On Monday, North Korea reported construction units were arriving in the flood-hit areas from all over the country, including the capital, Pyongyang.
"The country's manpower and material and technical potentials are now concentrated on the flood damage rehabilitation," the Korean Central News Agency said. It said the ruling party has urged citizens to "achieve the miraculous victory of converting misfortune into favorable conditions ... with the tremendous might of single-minded unity!"
The North Korean media also said the focus of a 200-day "loyalty campaign" already underway to mobilize the nation behind leader Kim Jong Un in a mandatory show of devotion has been switched to a call for all citizens to support the recovery effort.
The U.N. agency said humanitarian agencies have released relief materials from their stockpiles inside North Korea, including food, shelter and kitchen kits, water purification and sanitation supplies and emergency health supplies.

Deadly flooding has displaced thousands in North Korea. International aid agencies are struggling to reach those in the flood-hit communities.
(Twitter/IFRC Asia Pacific)

The U.N. report said the government is "urgently working" to reopen roads, distributing relief goods and preparing to rebuild 20,000 houses by early October, before the onset of North Korea's bitterly cold winter.It added that the government had allowed U.N. agencies, the North Korean Red Cross and International Federation of the Red Crescent, along with private international aid groups to conduct a joint assessment of needs in the affected areas last week, but they were unable to access Musan and Yonsa.
The flooding occurred around the Tumen River, which runs between North Korea and China.
(MORE: North Korea Called on Western Scientists for Help After Mysterious Volcano Awakened in April)
North Korea experiences frequent natural disasters which are more devastating because of its often problematic infrastructure and lack of civil engineering projects designed to mitigate damage.
In August last year, major downpours followed by flash floods killed at least 40 people and devastated parts of the Rason area, near the Russian and Chinese borders where a key special economic zone is located.
A series of floods and droughts were a contributing factor in the disastrous famine years of the 1990s — called the "arduous march" in North Korea — that nearly brought the country to economic ruin.
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