Famine Fear As North Korea Plays Down Flood Crisis

Fears of a fresh humanitarian crisis in North Korea were heightened yesterday by reports that recent flooding may have killed thousands more people than originally thought. A human rights group said as many as 10,000 people were dead or missing and 1.5 million had been forced to leave their homes after typhoon rains lashed the country on July 10.

The government has said 141 people were killed and 112 are missing. Already isolated diplomatically by its recent missile test launches, it has refused international offers of assistance.

Good Friends, a South Korean human rights group with extensive contacts in the north, said Pyongyang's figures were vastly underestimated and based their own approximations on unnamed sources in North Korea.

North Korea, a fiercely independent and militarist state, has always been reluctant to reveal signs of weakness to the outside world or its own people. State pride and paranoia have been evident in the past few months in the decision to expel dozens of foreign aid workers, on the grounds that North Korea no longer needs outside support, and the placing of the army on a semi-war footing.

But without help, North Korea may struggle to cope with the flood damage, which the government says has affected 26,000 hectares (65,000 acres) of land, ruining 100,000 tonnes of crops. Other organisations' estimates of the economic damage are four times higher.

Many observers fear a repeat of the famines of the 1990s, which were caused by flood damage to crops and worsened by Pyongyang's reluctance to accept international support and monitoring.