North Korea blames officials' inaction for typhoon casualties
05 September, 2020
North Korea's ruling party is calling for the punishment of officials whose failure to check out orders led to "dozens of casualties" during typhoons that lashed the Korean peninsula this week, a state newspaper reported on Saturday (Sep 5).
The isolated country has been grappling with torrential rains, floods and typhoons in one of the wettest rainy seasons on record.
Rodong Sinmun, an official party newspaper, reported that officials in Wonsan, an eastern coastal city hit especially hard by Typhoon Maysak, and surrounding Kangwon Province didn't implement instructions to secure buildings at risk and plan a potential evacuation of residents.
"Dozens of casualties have occurred ... due to red tape and tricks among the town and provincial officials who didn't accept the party's guidelines," the newspaper said.
The party held a gathering to examine the officials' wrongdoings and seek strict legal punishment, the newspaper added.
On Wednesday, state television set aired rare live reports of storm surge and torrential rains including from Wonsan, showing a damaged bridge, a flooded square and buildings and a van carrying loudspeakers to broadcast safety warnings.
The Rodong Sinmun separately reported activities to recuperate destroyed farms in the central county of Unpa, the country's breadbasket, while soldiers were seen mending homes, bridges and river banks nationwide.
Concerns are growing about further crop damage and food supplies as the impoverished North braces for another, potentially better typhoon, Haishen, which is on the right track to batter the peninsula's east coast starting Monday.
38 North, a US think-tank specialised in North Korea, said commercial satellite imagery showed more than 100 military and fishing vessels docked at the eastern port of Sinpo on Friday, much more when compared to a 30 to 40, prior to the typhoon.
But the shipyard, a major submarine base where submarine-launched ballistic missiles have been tested, appears to have suffered little damage from the recent storms, the think tank said.
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