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Voices stressing an urgent need to support North Korean flood victims are getting louder inside and outside South Korea as the size of the flood damage is being revealed through media report. A great deal of damage was caused by the Typhoon Lionrock which had literally swept through the northern provinces of Hamgyeongbuk-do and Yanggang-do, North Korea, beween  Aug 29 - Sep 1.

Yet, the current political issue of imposing sanction against North Korea in response to its 5th nuclear test is crushing the effort for humanitarian support.

According to the European Commission report released on Sep. 14,  the flood damage includes 138 dead, 400 missing people, 35,000 houses shattered and 110,000 internally displaced population. The UN World Food Plan (WFP) estimates those in need of urgent support at around 140,000 and is supplying emergency relief food.  

Particularly, the downpour which had continued for 4 hours over Aug. 30 - 31 raised the Duman River water level 6-13 meters to inundate the neighboring area. In Gangan-dong (Hamgyeongbuk-do Hwoeryung-city), around 200 people (20 % of the residents) were either killed or missing. The joint assessment team described, “There is no single building standing intact in Gangan-dong. It seems the whole county had been flattened to the ground."

Around 500 dead or missing and 140, 000 refugees in need of emergency relief  

The joint report by the UN Humanitarian Organizations and other international relief organizations reported on Sep.11 that the size and range of the flood damage is more serious and complex than first expected. Moreover, approximately 50 km of the roads leading to one of the worst affected areas such as Musan-gun and Yunsa-gun had been completely destroyed making it difficult to access.

The report also raised concern that the flood and avalanche would make this years' fall harvest impossible. The situation appears even more dismal should the lack of water supply from the facilities destruction and the possible following epidemics like diarrhea and respiratory diseases be considered. Darlene Tymo the WFP Pyongyang Branch Chief pointed out the severe cold weather in northern provinces during winter as an additional risk factor. She said, “The temperature in the areas drops below zero degree Celsius at the end of October and below minus 30 degree Celsius in mid-winter,” and appealed, “Continuous support is desperately needed [for those who lost everything] to survive the coming winter.” 

The North Korean authorities also described the flood damage as “the worst natural disaster in 70 years since our liberation” (Chosun Central News Agency report) and were known to have asked urgent help toward international society. With regard to this, a US monthly magazine the Atlantic writes (“North Korea’s Deadly Floods”, Sep. 12) that the floods had prompted “an unusual appeal” by the North Korean government. The North Korean Foreign Policy Department is reported (Sep.14) to have invited diplomats from Asian countries such as Vietnam and Mongolia and asked help, and to have emailed which was asking emergency aid to the organizations supporting North Korea in the US via the UN delegation. 

The sanction against N Korea hinders cash transfer for humanitarian purposes 

The WFP branch in Pyeongyang announced that it would immediately send emergency aids to the affected areas for 650,000 vulnerable people including children, pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers. Field workers in the branch worried, saying, “We need mobilize more goods and products shortly, but, banks are reluctant to wire-transfer money to North Korea due to the reinforced sanction. This is making the cash transfer more difficult even for humanitarian purposes.”

Under these circumstances, the South Korean government released its official position through the Unification Department regular briefing on the 19th, saying, “The possibility to support North Korea (in terms of the flood damage) is low.” On this day, Jung Jun-hee the Unification Department spokesperson reproached North Korea’s 5th nuclear test and said coldly, “First North Korea should do what it should do, then Heaven help those who help themselves, and then international support or that from us should be proceeded with.”

Responding to the remark that the decision was against the North Korean Human Rights Act activated since Sep. 4, he murmured, saying, “Looking at the comprehensive picture, humanitarian support based on the Act is not necessarily proper all the time,” revealing the current government’s contradictory attitude upon the North Korea’s human rights matter - the government has been emphasizing the North Korean human rights so far. 

Nongovernmental fund-raising campaigns to support flood victims

Meanwhile, the Korean-American community in the United States recalled the fact that “In September 1984 when Seoul and the metropolitan area was suffering from a floods, the North sent emergency aids such as 50,000 sacks of rice, cement and medical supplies,” and emphasized, “This kind of deeds made a cornerstone to recover the South-North relationship.” Various civic organizations, including Mingahyeop the Association for a Prisoner of Conscience Supporting Committee US Division and the US Committee of the 6.15 Joint Agreement Fulfillment, are now actively progressing the fund-raising campaign.        

Domestic fund-raising in civic realm has also started. 59 North Korea supporting civic organizations had established the Association of North Korea Supporting Civic Organizations and decided to raise 200 million Korean Won, and is now waiting for the government’s permission. The Southern Committee of the 6.16 Joint Agreement Fulfillment is also discussing about the fund-raising. The Korean Peasants League (chairperson Kim Young-ho) released a statement on the 19th and urged the government, saying, “It is one virtue out of many done even when the South-North relationship was not in a good shape, to support food and constructing materials to help recover floods damage.” The statement demanded that the government “proceed with unconditional rice support.”   

The opposition parties are also stressing the need for humanitarian support. Theminju the leading opposition party, through its comment on the 19th, said, “We must not turn our face away from the humanitarian requirement of the Northern residents although the conversation channel between the South and the North is now completely shut down.”  Park Ji-won the People’s Party Emergency Planning Committee Chairperson, on his private facebook, said, “It is a sin to abandon our brothers in suffer of the flood damage no matter how much we oppose the North’s fifth nuclear test. Let us send the rice stuck up in the warehouses and tackle our rice-farming communities' problem at the same time.”