Immediate food assistance needed for DPRK: UN

GENEVA - The UN said on Friday immediate food assistance is required to help the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to recover from a flood that damaged the country's infrastructure and crop production in late July.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said a request to the UN Country Team to release pre-positioned emergency stocks was made by the DPRK on July 30 to support the ongoing relief and recovery efforts in the affected areas, in particular for food and fuel.

The day after, an inter-agency assessment mission comprising UN agencies and NGOs was conducted. Two assessment teams visited hard-hit areas including Chonnae county in Kangwon province, Songchon county and Anju city in South Pyongan province.

Flood damage was observed in maize, soy bean and rice fields. OCHA said it is difficult to quantify the possible yield losses at this juncture. A specialized crop production assessment mission is planned for the coming months.

Tide torrential rains swept across DPRK between July 18 and 29, causing flooding, and in some places severe damage to property, buildings, infrastructure and agricultural fields.

According to the DPRK, 88 people died as a result of the disaster with another 62,889 people rendered homeless. The three most affected counties are Anju City and Songchon in South Pyongan province, and Chonnae in Kangwon province.