DPRK Has Shower of Rain, But No Gain for Land

Drought-Hit DPRK Has Shower of Rain, But No Gain for Land

The DPRK, which had suffered a two-month-long spell of widespread drought, had 100 mm rainfall in early August, but it had no effort for recovering the loss of hundreds of thousands tons of grain.

According to reports by the Korean Central Broadcasting Station, from the evening of Aug. 2 to the morning of Aug. 3, the drought-hit areas -- North and South Pyongan, North Hwanghae provinces, had more than 100 mm rainfall.

Pyongyang's state-run broadcasting station also reported on Aug. 3 that there was shower on the night of Aug. 2 in other cities and provinces of the country -- Pyongyang City, Jagang, Ryangang, North and South Hamgyong and Kangwon provinces. No further details of the rainfall condition were reported.

Since the end of May, the country has been hit by a scorching heat wave, with the mean temperature in the mid 90F. The drought struck precisely at a time when rice paddies and other arable land needed a proper amount of rainfall for a good harvest. An estimated 704,300 tons of grain have been damaged.

Meanwhile, U.N.-led international organizations said that the food shortage situation in the DPRK was very serious and appealed further international relief assistance to the country.

On Aug. 4, Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organization said in a statement, "The crop has been lost. It is absolutely disastrous... The drought exacerbates the fragility of the agricultural production system, already weakened by two consecutive years of losses due to flooding."

Meanwhile, the World Food Programme, the U.N. food aid agency, made an urgent appeal to the world to give more food assistance to the DPRK.

Catherine Bertini, executive director of the World Food Program, on Aug. 7 said in a news conference, "WFP is pleading with donors to increase donations... There are still millions and millions of people who have no food."