By Choi Sung-jin
A North Korean propaganda machine has indirectly urged South Korea to provide aid to help ease flood damage in its northeastern region, citing the North's "wholehearted support" for the flood-stricken South more than a half century ago.
"In September 1959, unprecedented rainstorms and floods swept the entire South Korea," said Naenara (Our Country), a North Korean media outlet, reporting in detail the "cabinet decision No. 60," which was adopted to provide help to recover from flood damage in the South.
"The great Marshal Kim Il-sung, who is concerned about South Korean people struggling in shanties with the snow and rain, and worries about South Korean farmers even with the slight rise of rivers, has sped up the adoption of the cabinet decision No. 60 to save flood victims in the South as soon as possible," it said.
The propaganda outlet reported that the North Korean founder wrote down specific aid items and their amounts, including 30,000 bags of rice, 1 million feet of fabric, 100,000 pairs of shoes and 100,000 sacks of cement.
"The Great Leader was lost in deep thinking about how to stabilize the lives of South Koreans suffering under the U.S. imperialists and their South Korean puppets and now hit by a natural disaster," the paper said. "And then the leader added the phrase, ‘North Korea will always welcome South Koreans defecting to the North and guarantee comfortable lives for them.'"
The propaganda machine went ahead with unconvincing claims that South Korean victims were so deeply moved by the aid that they admired the Great Leader as their "savior and the sun of all Koreans."
The North Korean media outlet's reiteration of an episode of more than 50 years ago seems to be aimed at expressing regret about the recent decision by the South Korean government not to provide any help to the flood-ravaged North unless it stops nuclear and missile provocations, North Korea watchers here said.
Opposition parties and civic groups have called for humanitarian aid to the North, which is suffering the worst floods since the regime's foundation. Some have suggested the two Koreas use it to reconnect severed inter-Korean ties, but to little avail.
In September 1959, typhoon Sarah hit South Korea, leaving 848 dead, 2,533 missing and 373,459 homeless. The floods in North Korea this summer have killed 138, with 400 missing and 20,000 houses destroyed, according to a United Nations estimate.
A North Korean propaganda machine has indirectly urged South Korea to provide aid to help ease flood damage in its northeastern region, citing the North's "wholehearted support" for the flood-stricken South more than a half century ago.
"In September 1959, unprecedented rainstorms and floods swept the entire South Korea," said Naenara (Our Country), a North Korean media outlet, reporting in detail the "cabinet decision No. 60," which was adopted to provide help to recover from flood damage in the South.
"The great Marshal Kim Il-sung, who is concerned about South Korean people struggling in shanties with the snow and rain, and worries about South Korean farmers even with the slight rise of rivers, has sped up the adoption of the cabinet decision No. 60 to save flood victims in the South as soon as possible," it said.
The propaganda outlet reported that the North Korean founder wrote down specific aid items and their amounts, including 30,000 bags of rice, 1 million feet of fabric, 100,000 pairs of shoes and 100,000 sacks of cement.
"The Great Leader was lost in deep thinking about how to stabilize the lives of South Koreans suffering under the U.S. imperialists and their South Korean puppets and now hit by a natural disaster," the paper said. "And then the leader added the phrase, ‘North Korea will always welcome South Koreans defecting to the North and guarantee comfortable lives for them.'"
The propaganda machine went ahead with unconvincing claims that South Korean victims were so deeply moved by the aid that they admired the Great Leader as their "savior and the sun of all Koreans."
The North Korean media outlet's reiteration of an episode of more than 50 years ago seems to be aimed at expressing regret about the recent decision by the South Korean government not to provide any help to the flood-ravaged North unless it stops nuclear and missile provocations, North Korea watchers here said.
Opposition parties and civic groups have called for humanitarian aid to the North, which is suffering the worst floods since the regime's foundation. Some have suggested the two Koreas use it to reconnect severed inter-Korean ties, but to little avail.
In September 1959, typhoon Sarah hit South Korea, leaving 848 dead, 2,533 missing and 373,459 homeless. The floods in North Korea this summer have killed 138, with 400 missing and 20,000 houses destroyed, according to a United Nations estimate.
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