By Kim Young-jin
North Korea has requested emergency aid from the U.N. to cope with flooding in the Sinuiju region, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported Wednesday.
The North made the appeal Tuesday, RFA quoted a UNICEF spokesman as saying, after experiencing torrential rain over the weekend that submerged areas in and around Sinuiju, which borders China.
U.N. officials in Pyongyang will hold aid talks with the government, the report said.
The area was battered by rain over the weekend, causing the Yalu River that separates North Korea and China to breach its banks and massive damage in the North. Some 250,000 residents of Northeast China were also forced to flee their homes, as the country struggles with its worst flooding in a decade.
The North’s state-run media reported Sunday that military forces had been mobilized to rescue and evacuate thousands from the floods. It said over 5,000 people had been moved to higher ground, but reported no deaths.
Most of North Korea’s trade with China, its major ally, occurs through Sinuiju, a major lifeline for the impoverished country.
Flooding and drought in the North since the 1990’s has wrought havoc on its crops and pushed the isolated country into deep poverty, increasing its dependence on international aid.