North Korea will not seek foreign help to has recovered from floods that devastated areas near the country's border with China, said leader Kim Jong-un, who ordered authorities to bring thousands of homeless people to the capital to provide them with better care, AP reported, quoted by BTA.
Kim said it would take about two to three months to rebuild homes and stabilize flood-affected areas. Until then, his government plans to house about 15,400 people - a group that includes mothers, children, the elderly and disabled soldiers - in facilities in Pyongyang, the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCTA) said today. The CCTA said Kim made the comments during a two-day trip to the northwestern city of Yuezhou. There he met with flood victims and discussed recovery efforts. The agency gave Kim its typical effusive praise, saying the visit showed his "sacred leadership" and "warm love and an ennobling spirit of devoted service to the people".
According to state media, as a result of heavy rains at the end of July in the northwestern city of Xinyizhou and the neighboring city of Yuizhou, 4,100 houses, 7,410 hectares of agricultural land and numerous other public buildings, structures, roads and railways were flooded.< /p>
The North has not released information on the deaths, but Kim has been quoted as blaming government officials who neglected disaster prevention for causing "unacceptable casualties".
Traditional allies Russia and China, as well as international humanitarian organizations, have offered to provide North Korea with humanitarian supplies, but the North has not publicly expressed a desire to receive them.