DPRK Forum

North Korea building fences along border with China:

Yes, the defections from North Korea to China have been there for a while now, and while some make it, a lot do not, either from guards shooting them as they cross the river or by the Chinese sending them back to certain death. The tragedy is unspeakable, and people risk life and limb to escape the crushing poverty and repressive leadership. Also, could the floods incite more defections? That is unknown to me, but could be a reason too I guess. Either way, something has to be done to have people who happen to defect to have asylum, but China is not hearing anything of it.

Marcus Noland urges caution in official reporting of the floods:

Marcus Noland, an expert on famine in North Korea, urged caution over the official damage estimates because of past overstatements from Pyongyang.

“There is a history of the North Koreans exaggerating the extent of natural disasters in order to obtain aid,” said Noland, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, based in Washington.

“Releasing such a precise figure so early on simply serves to raise flags and raises concerns about what’s really going on,” he said, stressing nonetheless that the current was still a tragic situation for North Koreans.

In 1995, the North said that floods had displaced of 5.4 million people, but international aid agencies instead found 500,000 homeless - a large crisis, but still only a tenth of what Pyongyang had claimed, Noland said.

Noland also noted that the disaster reports came before a meeting this month of the leaders of the two Koreas.

and curiously, the death toll rose to 600 with more reports of heavier damage, displaced people and lost production:

SEOUL, Aug 26 (Reuters) - Some of the worst flooding to hit North Korea in decades has killed at least 600 people, double the previous known toll, the official news agency said at the weekend.

The reclusive North had earlier told international aid agencies, and reported in its official media, that 300 people had been killed or were missing after floods and landslides brought about by weeks of heavy rain this month.

“The unusual heavy rain caused huge material losses to the DPRK, creating unprecedented difficulties in people’s living and economic construction,” the official KCNA news agency said. The North’s official name is the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

“According to the information available from the Central Statistics Bureau, torrential rain, strong winds and landslides left at least 600 people dead or missing and thousands of people wounded,” KCNA said in a late Saturday report.

Flooding in the southern half of the country destroyed thousands of buildings, left more than 300,000 homeless, and wiped out more than 11 percent of the land for grains and maize in a country that already battles chronic food shortages, it has said.

KCNA said on Saturday the floods snapped hundreds of electric polls, caused enormous damage to coal mines and destroyed large sections of its few highways.

While the reports could be true, there may be no way to really know. One Free Korea has an excellent writeup on the floods, so make sure to check that out. Whatever the numbers if it is 20, 100, 300 or 600, the casualties are sure to rise with food shortages and disease. From reports I have read and seen before, the health care system is way below par and it seems to me suffering will ensue. Also, in an unusual move, it seems the WFP are going to assess the damage in several provinces with the blessing of the government:

The Government has indicated acceptance of WFP conditions allowing for ongoing visits and assessments by agency staff of food distribution at district and community levels.

An existing WFP operation provides nutritional aid to 1.9 million especially vulnerable people across 50 counties, including many of the flood-affected counties, distributing vitamin- and mineral-enriched foods processed at local factories to young children and pregnant and nursing women.

That does not happen everyday, but will they be able to go where ever they need to go to see who needs the help? Only time will tell on that one.