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North Korea Weekly (August 13-19, 2007)

ROK National Intelligence Service

Inside North Korea

o Pertaining to North Korea’s Damage from Heavy Rains and Recovery Efforts

- On August 13, North Korean Central TV said torrential rains beginning August 8 had wreaked havoc across North Korea and broadcasted images of affected regions in Pyongyang and rural areas.

- On August 15, the North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported, “By August 14, more than 11% of the nation’s rice paddies and corn fields had been submerged, buried under soil or washed away.” The KCNA also unveiled details of damage to agricultural facilities: “On a national level, over 200 pumping stations, 1,600 waterways, more than 480 agricultural structures, and 800 or so streams and rivers have been destroyed. On top of that, hundreds of water pumps, electric motors and potential transformers have been inundated or carried away by floodwaters.”

- On August 16, the KCNA reported, “The City of Pyongyang also suffered floods due to unusually heavy downpours,” adding, “Between August 7 and 11 alone, the precipitation was as much as 224 mm more than in the flood that swept through Pyongyang 40 years ago.”

- On August 18, the KCNA said, “Governmental agencies and organizations, the army, and residents are all assembling their efforts to recover from the flood damage,” and reported, “Also in the City of Pyongyang, which had more rains than in the previous worst flood of 1967, intensive recovery efforts are underway, for example, to clear mud from the roads along the Taedong and Pothong Rivers.”

o On August 16, the North’s Rodong Sinmun said, “The Ministry of Education has been increasing the emphasis on computer education in keeping with the informatization era,” adding, “To that end, the ministry launches strongholds for computer education at individual universities or colleges to be used to nurture program development and increase knowledge of applications.”

Outside North Korea

o On August 16, the North’s Korean Central Broadcasting Station (KCBS) and Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported that a representative of Guinness World Records Ltd. who was visiting North Korea attended an Arirang performance and “mentioned that the grand mass gymnastics and artistic performance Arirang featuring 100,000 people was the most perfect performance not only in terms of its massive scale but also its ideological and artistic aspects.”

Inter-Korean Issues

o North Korea reported on the upcoming 2nd South-North Korean summit and the postponement of South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun’s visit to Pyongyang, originally slated for late August, to early October due to the floods that ravaged North Korea.

- On August 15, reporting on the first preparatory contact held in Gaeseong for the forthcoming 2nd South-North summit, the North Korean Central Broadcasting Station (KCBS) said, “At the preparatory contact, both parties agreed on the scale and composition of the delegation that will participate in the event in Pyongyang, as well as the delegation’s arrival and departure procedures and the itinerary for their stay in order to successfully implement the North and South agreement.”

- On August 18, the KCBS said, “Concerning our [North Korea’s] recent flood damage, a telephone message was sent to South Korea regarding the postponement of President Roh Moo-hyun’s visit originally slated for late August,” adding, “In reply to the message, South Korea expressed its understanding and agreement to the adjournment. The both parties agreed to hold the summit from October 2 to 4, 2007.”

o On August 18, North Korea’s Rodong Sinmun featured a commentary titled “Dialogue and War are Incompatible” in which it branded the South Korea-US Ulchi Focus Lens (UFL) exercise from August 20 to 31 as an “anti-national act that pours cold water on national reconciliation and unity as well as on the Korean people’s burning desire for national reunification and that interrupts the flow of the June 15 reunification era,” and contended, “The war exercise plan must be cancelled forthwith.”