Posted on 08/15/2007 4:29:27 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
North Korea says floods devastate agriculture, destroy 11 percent of nation's farmland
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
SEOUL, South Korea (AP)
Floods caused by rains have destroyed more than one-tenth of North Korea's farmland at the height of the impoverished country's growing season, official media reported Wednesday.
"It is hard to expect a high-grain output owing to the uninterrupted rainstorms at the most important time for the growth of crops in the country," the North's official Korean Central News Agency said.
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 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. The country has suffered from food shortages since the mid-1990s, due to natural disasters along with outdated farming methods and the loss of Pyongyang's Soviet benefactor.
Some 46,000 hectares (113,666 acres) of fields in South Phyongan and South Hwanghae provinces were decimated in storms that began Aug. 7, KCNA said, noting those areas are the "main granaries of the country."
Another 37,000 hectares (91,427 acres) were also destroyed in North Hwanghae province, the agency said.
The North's 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.
To cope with the damage, the North has mobilized the military to help with recovery efforts, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported Wednesday, citing unnamed South Korean government officials.
The U.N. World Food Program said Wednesday that North Korean officials reported 200,000-300,000 people were now homeless, with the total number of those affected probably much larger.
Aid workers who visited areas just north of Pyongyang saw extensive erosion and flooding, WFP spokesman Paul Risley said, adding the effects were expected to be especially acute because the weather hit during the pollination period for the crops.
"There is concern that this could indicate that these floods could significantly reduce the size of this year's harvest," Risley said from Bangkok, Thailand.
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.
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 US$20 million (€14.72 million) worth of food from South Korea.
But because of the floods, that aid is 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 to make them that are shipped via roads and rail.
"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 KCNA report Wednesday said "over 200 pumping stations, more than 1,600 sections of waterways and 30 reservoirs, 450 agricultural structures and at least 800 sections of river and stream banks were destroyed."
The report added that several hundred water pumps, electric motors and transformers were deluged throughout the country.
The North was also hard-hit by floods last year where South Korean intelligence estimated 800-900 people were left dead or missing.
Both Kim and his country are hit hard this year. God must be stepping in to finish off Kim's regime.:-)
Ping!
I could well be wrong, but it sure seems like these “events” are simply to shift the blame for all the starving people in North Korea away from Kim and to “natural” causes.
“I could well be wrong, but it sure seems like these “events” are simply to shift the blame for all the starving people in North Korea away from Kim and to “natural” causes.”
And we know who causes natural disasters, don`t we? George Bush because he did`nt sign Kyoto! sarc
However, effect of any such moves will be short-lived. In the end, it will only highlight the glaring flaws of the regime.
I doubt that they can efficiently deploy resources to restore what is damaged by flood. You can pour in aids, but no much would come out as a result. Only tiny numbers of fat cat officials would get rich diverting aid supplies.
North korea has serious problems each year and try to intimidate other countries in to donating money, fuel and food to keep them going.
They keep an expensive nuclear program going and let their own people die of starvation then blame others for this.
I just don’t understand why the military or some other entity doesn’t just whack the little nutjob.
Lets send Maddie Notsobright and Jimmah Carter to bail the flood waters.
that aid is expected to be diverted ...to the military/ politicians.
For 30 years I believed the hype about natural catastrophe’s wiping out North Korean food supplies.
Then I realized it is all probably just a ploy to get more aid money & free food pouring in to this miserable little country, North Korea.
“We have also had catastrophy in the area of Big Military Hats! Over 22% of our Big Military Hats have been lost in flood! Send money!”
It is really neat how droughts and floods always follow the 38th parallel exactly.
Maybe He's seen that Bush has had at least three chances to deal the death blow -- by doing nothing -- and has instead pulled them out of the fire every time.
“It is really neat how droughts and floods always follow the 38th parallel exactly.”
The real explanation, which no one wants to admit, is that North Korea bought one of those old Soviet weather machines, but the instructions only came in Russian, they’ve got the damn thing going full blast in reverse, and they don’t know how to shut it off.
I thought the whole point of “Juche” was self-reliance. Hey Kim, how’s that self-reliance thing working out for you now?
Maybe we could send in Looter guy finish the job
Couldn’t happen to nicer people! /sarcasm
Plenty of fresh human meat in North Korea this week, as well as dried human jerky for the fall.
Meanwhile back at the palace, Kin il Jung pours himself another $2000 French cognac and puts on some porn on the BluRay.
Right you are, it's rather like the ongoing "drought" in Mugabe's Zimbabwe.
When your times comes and you are dying of whatever reason, I will try to stifle my yawn...
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