Top DPRK leader inspects flood-damaged area in north Hwanghae Province

PYONGYANG - Kim Jong-un, the top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), inspected flood-hit areas in North Hwanghae Province and clarified tasks and ways for the recovery of the damaged area, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Friday.

Kim went to Taechong-ri of Unpha County of the province in the southern part of the country after he heard that lots of dwelling houses and a large area of arable land were submerged due to several consecutive days of torrential rain and rainstorms caused by the seasonal rainy front, the report said, without giving the exact date of the inspection.

The report said the waterway levee in the area gave way and left more than 730 single-floored houses and 600-odd hectares of rice field inundated and 179 blocks of dwelling houses destroyed.

During the inspection, Kim called on local government departments and relevant officials in the county to settle the residents who lost their homes in public buildings or separate houses to stabilize their life and comfort them.

He also ordered relevant departments to submit a document on supplying every household in the afflicted area with food grain reserves of the State Affairs Commission chaired by Kim himself, KCNA added.

The central designing force should be sent to build 800 new model houses in the farm village of Unpha County hit by the flood and the project should be completed at an earliest date possible and on the highest level, Kim said, adding the strategic reserve supplies would be used to help the construction and relieve the people in the flood-hit areas.

As the central part of the country comes under the influence of Typhoon No. 4, or Typhoon Hagupit, further torrential rains were forecast for the areas while the precipitation in inland Gangwon Province is predicted to be over 500 mm, according to DPRK weather forecast.

Due to heavy or torrential rains in recent weeks, flood alerts were issued near the Taedong River, the Chongchon River and the Ryesong River for Thursday and Friday, raising the alarm for further flooding in the central and southern parts of the country.