ID :
200812
Fri, 08/12/2011 - 06:49
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/200812
The shortlink copeid
Expert says floods likely to reduce crop yield in North Korea
(ATTN: UPDATES with comments by U.S. official and North Korean defector; minor edits)
By Kim Kwang-tae
SEOUL (Yonhap) - Heavy downpours that hit North Korea's main bread basket provinces of Hwanghae and Pyongan last month are likely to reduce the country's crop production, a South Korean expert said Friday.
As of July, floods had submerged 77,000 hectares of farmland and destroyed 21,700 houses in North Korea, said Kim Young-hoon, who studies North Korea's agriculture at the Korea Rural Economic Institute.
He said the damage is worse than last year when a massive flood near the border with China and in other areas inundated 30,550 hectares of farmland and destroyed 19,307 houses.
Strong winds and heavy rainfall have also recently hit the North, damaging some 25,800 hectares of standing crops in South and North Hwanghae provinces, major grain producers for the country, and other areas, according to the North's state media.
North Korea has 1.6 million hectares of cultivated farmland, according to the Unification Ministry, which is in charge of relations with the North.
The development is feared to threaten the already fragile food situation in the North, which has relied on international handouts since the late 1990s to feed its 24 million people.
South Korea has recently offered to send 5 billion won (US$4.6 million) worth of emergency staples including baby food, biscuits and instant noodles to North Korea over its devastating floods.
In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Thursday that North Korea holds "primary responsibility" for feeding its people, although the United States still may provide food aid to the North.
South Korea has said the North's food situation is not serious compared with previous years, and suspected that food aid could be diverted to North Korea's elite and military, a backbone of the totalitarian rule of leader Kim Jong-il.
Also Friday, Kim Hye-sook, who was imprisoned in a North Korean political camp for 28 years before defecting to South Korea, told ruling Grand National Party lawmakers that she never received any flour and rice aid provided by South Korea.
North Korea has been hit hard by floods in recent years, mainly because of its lack of investment in disaster control and severe deforestation.
In 2007, North Korea was hit by the heaviest rainfall in 40 years, leaving some 600 people dead or missing and about 100,000 people homeless.
By Kim Kwang-tae
SEOUL (Yonhap) - Heavy downpours that hit North Korea's main bread basket provinces of Hwanghae and Pyongan last month are likely to reduce the country's crop production, a South Korean expert said Friday.
As of July, floods had submerged 77,000 hectares of farmland and destroyed 21,700 houses in North Korea, said Kim Young-hoon, who studies North Korea's agriculture at the Korea Rural Economic Institute.
He said the damage is worse than last year when a massive flood near the border with China and in other areas inundated 30,550 hectares of farmland and destroyed 19,307 houses.
Strong winds and heavy rainfall have also recently hit the North, damaging some 25,800 hectares of standing crops in South and North Hwanghae provinces, major grain producers for the country, and other areas, according to the North's state media.
North Korea has 1.6 million hectares of cultivated farmland, according to the Unification Ministry, which is in charge of relations with the North.
The development is feared to threaten the already fragile food situation in the North, which has relied on international handouts since the late 1990s to feed its 24 million people.
South Korea has recently offered to send 5 billion won (US$4.6 million) worth of emergency staples including baby food, biscuits and instant noodles to North Korea over its devastating floods.
In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Thursday that North Korea holds "primary responsibility" for feeding its people, although the United States still may provide food aid to the North.
South Korea has said the North's food situation is not serious compared with previous years, and suspected that food aid could be diverted to North Korea's elite and military, a backbone of the totalitarian rule of leader Kim Jong-il.
Also Friday, Kim Hye-sook, who was imprisoned in a North Korean political camp for 28 years before defecting to South Korea, told ruling Grand National Party lawmakers that she never received any flour and rice aid provided by South Korea.
North Korea has been hit hard by floods in recent years, mainly because of its lack of investment in disaster control and severe deforestation.
In 2007, North Korea was hit by the heaviest rainfall in 40 years, leaving some 600 people dead or missing and about 100,000 people homeless.
