NORTH KOREA: North Korea suffers from worst floods since 1967, UN worries about food shortages

Record ID: 1538104

  • Title: NORTH KOREA: North Korea suffers from worst floods since 1967, UN worries about food shortages
  • Date: 2nd September 2007
  • Summary: (W3) PYONGYANG, NORTH KOREA (AUGUST 31, 2007) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTING RESIDENT COORDINATOR OF THE UNITED NATIONS IN NORTH KOREA, JEAN PIERRE DE MARGERIE, SAYING: "Somewhat of a breakthrough which happened with the floods a few weeks ago is that the government have improve its level of cooperation by giving us unprecedented access to the field to conduct our assessments of the damage. This was a few weeks ago and we remain very optimistic and encouraged that goodwill form the government will continue and we progress into the more operational phases of the emergency response which will take place in the coming days. So there has been a definite shift in the last two weeks and we just hope it will continue working in that direction."
  • Embargoed: 17th September 2007 15:49
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes
  • Reuters ID: LVA5E88935H997871GLTT4QTA910
  • Aspect Ratio: 4:3
  • Story Text: Recent floods have inundated fields and ruined crops and 100,000 homes and buildings in North Korea, leaving aid officials worried that the communist states' chronic food shortage may take a turn for the worse.
    The United Nations estimates the death toll between 400 and 800 in what is being described as the worst flooding since 1967.
    Jean Pierre De Margerie, World Food Programme (WFP) representative and United Nations Acting Resident Co-ordinator in North Korea said that many North Koreans had been affected.
    "So, we are considering right now that there are literally hundreds of thousands of North Korean which are directly affected by the floods. Currently, there's 170,000 North Koreans which are homeless and hundreds of thousands that have lost all their possessions, which have seen their houses destroyed," said De Margerie.
    In 1995 devastating floods caused famine and close to a million North Koreans are believed to have died of starvation in the following two years.
    International financial support for North Korea dropped in 2006 but has now risen to 2 million dollars, according to De Margerie. There are currently five U.N. agencies active in North Korea, along with a small number of NGO's.
    The WFP is currently supplying food aid to 37 of the 149 counties affected by floods. De Margerie said they have offered additional aid to the government and operate in other affected areas, but have been refused with authorities saying the remaining 112 counties are under control.
    But the WFP estimates the country will have a cereal food deficit of more than 1 million tons in the November 2006 to October 2007 period.
    "Year after year North Korea faces a food deficit situation being that they can simply not produce enough food to feed their entire population.
    this year, following these floods we know that its farmland, its harvest that will be affected and we are concerned that the food deficit might be actually larger in 2007 than it has been for many years," said De Margerie.
    In an unprecedented move, North Korean media openly reported the floods, admitting to huge economic losses.
    Pyongyang also applied for international assistance for the first time in 12 years and the U.N. launched a14 million-dollar appeal for aid to the country on August 28.
    "Somewhat of a breakthrough which happened with the floods a few weeks ago is that the government have improve its level of cooperation by giving us unprecedented access to the field to conduct our assessments of the damage. This was a few weeks ago and we remain very optimistic and encouraged that goodwill from the government will continue and we progress into the more operational phases of the emergency response which will take place in the coming days. So there has been a definite shift in the last two weeks and we just hope it will continue working in that direction," said De Margerie.
    North Korea has also asked the U.N. for development aid to help its people become self sufficient, rather than surviving on handouts.
    The heavy flooding has also prevented China from delivering its promised fuel oil aid to North Korea. The fuel oil was scheduled to arrive by the end of August in exchange for the the shut-down and sealing of the country's Yongbyon nuclear facility.
    Energy starved North Korea has been promised 100,000 tonnes of fuel if it permanently disables its nuclear facilities and provides a full list of its atomic arms programme.
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