NK’s busiest port frozen for four recent winters: research institute

North Korea's busiest port of Nampo, long known as an ice-free port, has frozen every winter since 2009 as global warming trends caused severe cold snaps along with frequent heat waves, a South Korean weather research institute said Thursday.

The Korea Centre for Atmospheric Environment Research released satellite pictures showing the port, located west of Pyongyang, surrounded by ice floes every winter since early 2009. The pictures were some of those taken by the U.S. government's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration since 2001, the local research center said.

Analysis of the photos identified extensive ice floes that formed along the west coast in mid-January of 2009, blocking access to the country's largest port, which is also the gateway to the capital city of Pyongyang.

Nampo Port had been well-known throughout its history for its capacity to be accessible vessels even in the midst of winter.

Ever since 2009, the west bay area, where the port is located, has experienced the formation of heavy ice floes from around mid-January to early February, the weather think tank said.

This winter, the freezing started earlier than past years on Jan. 10 as the Korean Peninsula experienced an unusually cold winter, the research center said, adding that even now the port is believed to be blocked by ice that has yet to melt.

The satellite pictures also showed the bay area experienced some ice floes in 2001 and between 2003 and 2005, the center said, indicating the port is no longer ice-free.

"North Korea seems to have faced substantial difficulties in its fisheries and sea transportation due to the ice formation during January and February," Chung Seung-yong, the head of the research center, said.

Another weather expert said the recent frequent freezing of the port is due to the effects of global warming, which tend to widen temperature gaps between summer and winter.

"Cold snaps are getting more severe and usually ice-free ports could freeze due to those effects," Chung Hyun-sook, an official of the country's weather administration said.(Yonhap)