PYONGYANG, Sept 9 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A typhoon that struck North Korea wrecked nearly 60 bridges and destroyed or inundated more than 2,000 houses, state media reported Wednesday, with leader Kim Jong Un saying the damage had disrupted central planning for the rest of the year.
Typhoon Maysak brought days of heavy downpours to the country’s east coast last week even as the North was still reeling from earlier flooding and
typhoon damage, and this week it was followed by Typhoon Haishen.
Maysak “destroyed or inundated” more than 2,000 houses and tens of public buildings in the affected regions, the official KCNA news agency said, while 60 kilometres of roads and 59 bridges collapsed, with over 3,500 metres of railway roadbeds “swept away”.
Natural disasters tend to have a greater impact in the North due to its
creaking infrastructure, and the country is vulnerable to flooding as many
mountains and hills have long been deforested.
The damage obliged the authorities to “change the direction of our struggle
after comprehensively considering the year-end tasks that were underway”, Kim told a top committee of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea, according to KCNA.
It did not give specific details.
Kim has ordered some 12,000 Pyongyang-based party members to help with
recovery efforts in affected rural regions, and they attended a rally on
Tuesday before being dispatched.
“We are afraid of nothing,” said Kang Chol Jin, a party member at the event
in front of the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, the giant mausoleum that holds
the bodies of Kim’s grandfather and father, the North’s founder Kim Il Sung
and his son and successor Kim Jong Il.
“We firmly confirm our determination to go to the typhoon-afflicted areas
and complete our missions as soon as possible,” Kang added.
Residents cheered and waved flowers as the rally participants marched in
uniform through the streets of the capital.
Kim stressed the importance of completing the recovery efforts before next
month’s commemorations of the 75th anniversary of the Workers’ Party founding on October 10.
Authorities have previously promised to open the Pyongyang General
Hospital, currently under construction, on that date, and according to
reports preparations are underway for a possible military parade.
It was not clear whether the “change” Kim mentioned was a reference to
either of those.
While localised, the typhoon damage is testing the North’s state capacity
and resources, said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in
Seoul.
“The political risk to Kim of failing to deliver promised reconstruction
may be limited, but an accumulation of economic failures will strain his
regime.”
The impoverished country is subject to multiple UN Security Council
sanctions over its banned weapons programmes. — NNN-AGENCIES
