Powerful flood waters and mudslides struck North Korea, particularly Chagang Province in its northernmost part. The disaster was quite tragic, as it saw the death toll reach an approximate figure of 4,000, displacing more than 15,000 people from their homes. This disaster killed and injured many people, besides wrecking the infrastructure: roads, homes, and farmlands were swept away by the floods. The main cities that suffer most in Chagang Province are Sinuiju and Uiju. That has overstretched the country’s already frail resources.
The North Korean leader took some most unimaginable and contentious steps in response to the calamity.
It has been reported that Kim, in late August, ordered the execution of government officials between 20 to 30 in number. These included one Kang Bong-hoon, who held the portfolio of provincial party secretary of Chagang. They had been accused of corruption, negligence, and failure to enforce disaster prevention measures that allegedly heightened the seriousness of the disaster. Looking from another angle, the action of these officials was “unforgivable,” it has been reported, where Kim was going hard to hold them accountable.
Kim Jong Un executes 30 officials over floods in North Korea that killed 4,000.
The 30 men failed to prevent massive flooding and landslides in the summer that resulted in the death of some 4,000 people 😳 PIC.TWITTER.COM/R8BZ6CLGGD
— SAY CHEESE! 👄🧀 (@SaycheeseDGTL) SEPTEMBER 5, 2024
The executions come in the shadow of more serious governance by the North Korean leadership, where public executions commonly take place for minor crimes, including corruption and disloyalty. The apparent fiasco on the part of the officials to handle disaster preparedness, which identified them as targets, apparently pushed Kim Jong-un to react with his characteristic iron fist and to make sure his regime will not show any leniency toward anybody deemed incompetent or misbehaving. Be that as it may, despite the extent of the devastation, North Korea refused any kind of international aid.
Countries like South Korea and China offered to give aid, but Kim Jong Un refused-.attributing it to the belief that foreign reports of the aftermath result from a smear campaign against his government. In themselves, his refusal of all those offers of aid signifies more fully the policy of isolation and self-sufficiency which North Korea maintains at its own risk in various ways.
Since then, rebuilding has become one of Kim’s top priorities, pledging restoration to the devastated areas. North Korea’s leader ordered thousands of homeless citizens to Pyongyang, promising to look after and house those who were affected much better. But the scale of destruction-sometimes it takes months, or even more for it to get truly recovered.
