2023-08-22 08:47:06
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has blasted his government’s “irresponsible” handling of floods linked to the recent storm Khanun, state media reported on Tuesday.
Their footage shows Mr Kim in a flooded paddy field in the Nampho area, knee-deep in water, giving instructions to stern-looking officials and also taking notes while standing in the water.
The damage was “not a calamity due to natural disasters but a human disaster due to the irresponsibility … of lazy people”, he said according to the official KCNA (Korean Central News Agency).
Mr. Kim “severely blamed” government officials, according to KCNA, taking particular aim at Prime Minister Kim Tok Hun. The latter “went around the site once or twice with the attitude of a spectator”, continues the agency.
Tropical Storm Khanun earlier in August passed through North Korea, a country vulnerable to flooding due to lack of infrastructure and deforestation.
A damaged quay and an inadequate drainage system have flooded more than 560 hectares of land including essential rice fields, according to North Korean state media. Mr Kim gave orders to “severely punish” those responsible, according to KCNA.
Visiting flooded farmland in eastern Anbyon County, Kim had already reprimanded local authorities on August 14. Last week, he praised the army for helping to save crops in Kangwon province. The prime minister “left the reconstruction work almost entirely to the military,” Kim said at the time, according to KCNA.
A “significant reshuffle of the North Korean government seems inevitable,” observed Cheong Seong-chang, a researcher at the Sejong Institute.
The UN Security Council last week accused Pyongyang of spending heavily on its nuclear weapons program as its population lacks basic necessities.
The country was periodically hit by famines in the 1990s, with estimates ranging from hundreds of thousands to millions of victims.
According to the Seoul Intelligence Agency, the North Korean economy is in a “vicious circle” with negative growth between 2020 and 2022 and GDP falling 12% in 2022 compared to 2016.
KCNA reports show that food problems have worsened in the country, said An Chan-il, a defector-turned-researcher who heads the World Institute for North Korea Studies.
On Tuesday, North Korea informed Japan of its plan to launch a satellite soon, immediately denounced by Tokyo and Seoul.
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