After once again cementing itself as an international pariah with a nuclear test last week, North Korea’s government is now in need of international assistance.
Parts of the country has been deluged by heavy floodwaters that have left at least 133 people dead and forced more than 100,000 people from their homes, according to a report from the United Nations.
“This is a major and complex disaster,” Chris Staines, head of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies’ North Korea delegation, said in a statement. IFRC estimates at least 24,000 homes have been “totally destroyed.”
“In some villages that we visited on the outskirts of Hoeryong City, there was barely a building left unscathed. The floods came through with such force, they destroyed everything in their path. People were salvaging whatever possessions they could from piles of debris that used to be their homes.”
The areas hardest hit by flooding, brought on by Typhoon Lionrock striking the Korean Peninsula on Aug. 30, are cities and counties along the Tumen River — a waterway that runs along the border between North Korea and China.
Getting aid into North Korea is already tricky, but the North Korean government is facing the threat of even more international sanctions after conducting its sixth nuclear test on Sept. 9.
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Agence France-Press reported in July existing sanctions have made it difficult for humanitarian agencies working in North Korea.
An unnamed official with a humanitarian agency, that operates in capital city Pyongyang, even warned about the impact restrictions on bank transfers and aid imports could have in the event of flooding.
“Importing goods — medicines, humanitarian supplies, materials for water and sanitation infrastructure — has become very difficult,” the official told AFP. “We have some supplies in-country, but we wouldn’t be able to get emergency goods into the country within a short period of time.”
There are exemptions to the sanctions for humanitarian assistance.
When the U.S. Treasury Department authorized another round of sanctions against North Korea in March, following a nuclear weapon test in January, it made a number of exceptions for non-governmental agencies that would otherwise be prohibited.
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The exemptions included activities that support projects to meet basic human needs, provide drought and flood relief, support for efforts that prevent infectious disease, and authorization for registered U.S. money transmitters to process funds for NGOs working to support approved activities.
But obstacles remain.
“Despite the humanitarian exemption, private sector companies such as banks, shippers and other suppliers are increasingly declining or hesitating to provide services, which is affecting the ability of humanitarian agencies to operate,” another unidentified aid agency told AFP.
The UN World Food Programme, one of five UN agencies working in North Korea, is assisting in the flood stricken regions, providing food rations for some 140,000 people. But the agency warns there will be more demand.
The WFP has made an urgent appeal for US $1.2 million to continue providing assistance, and $21 million to keep assistance going until next August.
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