North Korean leader Kim Jong Un personally visits flooded villages, distributes rice to people
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has visited a flood-hit village in North Hwanghae province after heavy rains damaged more than 900 houses.
During a visit to Taechong-ri in Unpha County, Kim Jong Un instructed officials to distribute rice from special reserves to affected residents. He also requested that essential supplies such as cement be used to rebuild devastated areas, the North's KCNA news agency reported today (August 7).
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| Flooded fields in Sadong district east of Pyongyang after heavy rains hit many areas of North Korea. Screenshot of a news report on North Korean TV on August 6. Photo: Yonhap. |
"One of the important priorities is to quickly provide daily necessities, medicines and other necessities to flood-affected people and help them stabilize their lives as soon as possible," the North Korean leader said.
KCNA said Mr. Kim also "requested relevant units to submit reports on providing each household in the flooded area with a certain amount of rice from the reserve warehouse...".
KCNA did not specify when the visit took place. According to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency, Mr. Kim may have visited the village on August 6, as North Korean media had issued multiple warnings of extremely heavy rains in Hwanghae Province on August 4 and 5.
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| Chairman Kim Jong Un speaks at a meeting of the Executive Policy Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea on August 5. Photo: Yonhap |
KCNA said the North Korean leader asked officials to "seriously take the homeless people to temporary shelters in government offices, including party committees and people's committees... to comfort them and help them stabilize their lives." He also mobilized the military and ordered an urgent deployment of soldiers to areas where houses and roads were damaged.
On August 6, North Korean media reported that Chairman Kim Jong Un convened a meeting of the Workers' Party of Korea's Executive Policy Committee and ordered special support for the city of Kaesong, which is under lockdown due to concerns about the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak.
