SEOUL — North Korea needs immediate food assistance after heavy rains killed scores of people and submerged vast swaths of farmland, a UN office said Thursday.
That assessment was released by the UN resident coordinator’s office in Pyongyang following visits to flood-stricken areas in North Korea. Floods caused by two storm systems last month killed at least 119 people and left tens of thousands homeless, according to the North's media.
The United States said it would consider a request for assistance but has not received one, and it was not aware of such requests to other states.
The flooding, which occurred on the heels of a severe drought, renewed concerns about North Korea’s ability to feed its people. In June, the UN said two-thirds of the country’s 24 million people are coping with chronic food shortages.