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North Korea

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un personally ordered recovery measures from the military after devastating flooding in Rason in the northeast.

Seoul could help foster a climate of reconciliation with Pyongyang by offering support for the North Hamgyong Province city, which suffered major damage to its southern section.

Kim’s order was reported in an Aug. 28 piece by the North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

“I have issued orders from the Supreme Commander for the People’s Army to assume full responsibility for recovery from damages in Rason to be completed fully before the anniversary of the Workers’ Party establishment [on Oct. 10], and organized a command post for the battle to recover from the Rason flood damages,” the piece quoted Kim as saying during an extended meeting of the party’s Central Military Committee.

The context of the order is a sign of the severity of the damages, said University of North Korean Studies professor Yang Moo-jin.

“The Central Military Commission is a body for discussing the course of action for the military and its policies and staffing, so if they were addressing the flooding in Rason there, it means the damages were severe enough to mobilize the military to take action on them,” Yang said.

The KCNA previously released video footage on Aug. 27 showing damages to Rason in the wake of Typhoon Goni, which brought heavy rains when it passed by the region. The images showed inundated streets, ravaged buildings, and other signs of severe damage.

“More than 250 millimetres of rain fell on Rason on Aug. 22 and 23, with a death toll of around 40 people,” an Aug. 26 report by the agency said.

In addition, the report described “destruction to around 5,240 households in 1,070 units and 99 public buildings, including institutions, companies, schools, day care centers, nursery schools, hospitals, and clinics, along with 51sections of railway, including bridges, and the complete inundation of 125 jeongbo of farmland [approximately 1.23 million square meters].”

Some analysts saw the detailed account of flooding damages in Rason as a plea for support from the international community. Following discussions with the North Korea Red Cross Society, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has sent waterproof fabric, tents for families, cooking equipment, hygiene products, and water purifying solution to damaged regions from Hamgyong Province and Pyongyang.

The South Korean government is currently planning to consider humanitarian aid upon request from Pyongyang, while taking into account the state of inter-Korean relations and other general factors.

“We are paying close attention to the decisions of the Central Military Committee,” said Ministry of Unification spokesperson Jeong Joon-hee on Aug. 29. “If there is a request from the North, then we will consider the situation with the damage and the humanitarian aspect.”

Meanwhile, opposition parties and experts called on Seoul to take active steps to provide assistance for the flood damages in Rason.

“The typhoon damages in Rason are extremely severe. Given the difficulties we have had in fostering a climate for dialogue, we ought to be more generous with our trust for one another,” said New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD) leader Moon Jae-in in a meeting of the party’s supreme council and prominent lawmakers on Aug. 29.

Moon went on to propose “forming a joint inter-Korean body for responding to disasters, where we would share information on disasters involving the Korean Peninsula, climate change, earthquakes, and volcanic activity at Mt. Baekdu.”

Fellow NPAD lawmaker Ahn Cheol-soo echoed the message in posts to social media the same day.

“Now that we’ve done the hard work of initiating inter-Korean dialogue, it’s a good time to propose humanitarian aid at the government level,” he wrote.

“What we need now is more effort not only toward intergovernmental dialogue but also to win the hearts and minds of the North Korean people,” Ahn advised.

Korea National Strategy Institute director Kim Chang-soo advised Seoul to take the first step in offering help.

“The administration should take the initiative to propose flood aid to the North as a way of creating a turning point from improving inter-Korean relations from North-South coordination to recover from the disaster in Rason,” Kim said.

By Kim Ji-hoon and Lee Jung-ae, staff reporters

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