South Korean officials said yesterday they had in the past week recovered at least 10 bodies, believed to be victims of devastating floods in North Korea, from a river that crosses the border.
The bodies -- one on Monday, five on Wednesday, three on Friday, one on Saturday -- were recovered from Imjin River which runs across the border, the South's Dongducheon fire station rescue team said.
"It is the first time that we picked up such a large number of drowned bodies in a week from Imjin River," Moon Sang-sik of the rescue team, said.
"They are believed to be North Korean. Military authorities are trying to check their identifications for possible repatriations," he said.
North Korea reported on Saturday an all-out campaign to help hundreds of thousands of people left homeless and without food after widespread flooding.
The official Korean Central News Agency report came shortly after the two Koreas announced the postponement of a landmark summit set for later this month till early October due to the deadly disaster.
Some 300,000 people were homeless, and 11 percent of the grain harvest -- equivalent to 450,000 tonnes -- was lost in a nation already struggling to feed its 23 million people, according to the agency.
But the reclusive state's media gave no death tolls.
Almost 300 people are dead or missing in the floods, according to an aid agency quoting official figures. Yonhap reported late on Friday that at least 221 people were dead and 80 more missing.
South Korea has offered to send emergency aid worth 7.1 billion won (US$7.5 million) to the flood victims, while the US Agency for International Development promised US$100,000 dollars to buy supplies.
South Korean Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung said yesterday North Korea agreed that the proposed aid be sent in by land from Thursday through Saturday.
UN agencies said on Friday that half of North Korea's main health centers have been submerged by floods and warned that the situation could deteriorate unless aid arrives rapidly.
North Korea faced a food shortfall this year of one million tonnes, or 20 percent of its needs, even before the floods hit. It suffered a famine in the mid to late 1990s which killed hundreds of thousands.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in