Seoul: North Korean leader Kim Jong UN has mobilized the military to carry out assistance work in the area recently hit by heavy rain, the media said on Sunday, amid concerns about the economic crisis and lack of food.
The central military commission of the powerful workers’ party held a meeting in the eastern province of South Hamgyong to discuss the damage and recovery of the rain, the official KCNA news agency said.
The initial monsoon season arrived at the Korean Peninsula last month, with heavy rain also caused damage in several southern regions.
North Korea’s state TV released the recording this week showed a submerged house and destroyed bridges and railways in Hamgyong, said about 1,170 houses were destroyed and 5,000 people were evacuated.
Kim did not attend the meeting but party officials delivered his message that the military must start aid campaign and provide the inventory needed in the region, KCNA said.
“Also emphasized that he called for the resurrection and raised officials (parties) …
to conduct a recovery campaign with skilled and release it,” KCNA said.
KCNA said the military commission explored emergency measures to rebuild disaster-hit areas, stabilizing people’s lives, preventing Corenavirus and minimizing plant injuries.
The meeting took place amid fears of the crisis in a closed economy that had been carried by international sanctions, which aimed to limit nuclear programs and weapons.
Kim said in June the country faced a “tense” food situation, citing Pandemic Coronavirus and Typhoon last year, and recently the South Korean Central Bank said the North Korean economy was the biggest contraction in 23 years in 2020.
North Korea has not confirmed Covid -19 Cases but closed boundaries, stop trading and impose strict precautions, see a pandemic as a problem of national survival.
The South Korean parliament said last week that North Korea requires around 1 million tons of rice, with military and emergency reserves running out.