North Korea responds to flood with bare hands

At the disaster recovery site in Northern Hamgyung Province, North Korea, heavy-duty equipment were rarely found in the flood-stricken area where the North Korean Korea Central TV and the online Naenara covered on Thursday and Friday. Earth and sand drifted down were removed with shovels or bare hands by residents, and waterways were rerouted as men relocated large rocks. The devastating reality during the national Thanksgiving holidays came as a rare case, implicating signs for help from outside amid sickening inside its reclusive regime.

Due to Typhoon Lionrock which struck the Tumen River from late August to early September, the River saw its record-high precipitation. As hydroelectric dams were released thoughtlessly, the water-borne aftermath is rising to the surface belatedly in areas including Hoeryung-si (Musan-gun, Yeonsa-gun, Onseong-gun, Gyeongwon-gun, Gyeongheung-gun), Naseon-si, and others. As of today, the Typhoon has taken 138 lives and swept 400 away, leaving 140 thousand victims with no homes and 600 thousand residents in desperate need for drinking water. While the damages and loses in infrastructures including railroads, roads, and bridges will be severe, no one knows for sure how many years North Korea may take to recover with only bare hands.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) urged to provide comprehensive measures in Northern Hamgyung Province to respond to the flood damages – the worst in the last 50-60 years. North Korea first opened its briefing on current issues to nine Asian ambassadors stationed in North Korea, and boasted that “(North Korea) is now capable of producing various nuclear warheads with strong striking powers upon request.” But as the briefing neared to an end, it closed the meeting by asking for help on the flood damages. In a nutshell, Pyongyang is wielding its nuclear prowess and begging for relief supplies both at the same time. Moreover, North Korean representatives to the UN sent an email asking for support even to U.S. humanitarian organizations. Still, relief only from OCHA, the International Red Cross, and World Health Organization will be far from enough, as North Korea excluded China on their donor list amid chilly relations after the 5th nuclear test and South Korean private relief organizations also closed doors for further support.

Media coverage pictured Kim Jong-un beaming at the farms run by the military on Tuesday, only four days after North Korea pushed forward its fifth nuclear test on last Friday. Kim by far showed no signs of consoling the residents in woes or leading the recovery efforts in the aftermath of the worst flood ever. No one is for sure whether Kim doesn’t care about his people as long as he controls the military with nuclear missiles in his hands. Nonetheless, Kim’s regime would not hold on for long if his aides and high officials shudder everyday in fear of being executed anytime and the people continue to groan in the living hell.