DATE=8/9/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=N. KOREA HARVEST
NUMBER=2-252593
BYLINE=HYUN-SUNG KHANG
DATELINE=SEOUL
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: North Korea has warned that its grain harvest
will drop sharply this year, due to torrential rains
and a typhoon which battered the peninsula last week.
The country has requested food aid to the areas
damaged by Typhoon Olga. Hyun-Sung Khang reports from
the South Korean capital, Seoul, the floods are likely
to worsen the plight of a country which has
experienced successive years of famine.
TEXT: North Korea's state media says last week's
typhoon and torrential rains submerged the country.
Hardest hit were the southern regions which are
traditionally the food-producing areas for the rest of
the nation. The Pyongyang reports warn that as a
result, the North's grain harvest is expected to drop
sharply.
The Korean Central News Agency adds that
floodwaters have inundated thousands of houses and
public buildings, claiming lives and leaving people
homeless. The flood also severely
damaged kilometers of roads and more than a thousand
bridges.
North Korea has already requested food aid for the
areas damaged by the typhoon. The United Nation's
World Food Program says it has conducted
inspections to assess flood damage in the worst-hit
areas, but the extent of the damage is not yet known.
Another agency, The International Federation of Red
Cross and Red Crescent Societies says
that up to 72 centimeters of rain fell in five days
and it warned that flooding could have a lasting
impact on the country.
The head of the federation's delegation to North Korea
says the flooding hit 50-thousand hectares of rice
paddies. He warns that if rice paddies are flooded
for more than 48 hours, they are likely to suffer
permanent damage. The charity has some 300 volunteers
in the southern area of the country, distributing
disaster relief including rice, blankets, cooking
sets, water containers and purification tablets.
North Korea has experienced more than five years of
famine brought about by successive years of flooding
which have crippled an already inefficient food
production system. The famine is said to have claimed
hundreds of thousands -- possibly millions -- of
lives.
The country, which adheres to an ideology of self-
reliance has, in recent years, become
heavily dependent on food aid from the rest of the
world. But amid growing expectations that North Korea
is preparing to test fire a
missile, South Korea has warned that Pyongyang risks
having foreign aid suspended, if it goes ahead with
the launch. The South Korean Foreign
Minister says aid and cash donations would be severed,
endangering what he calls, North Korea's "struggle for
existence". (signed)
NEB/ FC / PLM
09-Aug-1999 14:03 PM EDT (09-Aug-1999 1803 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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