North Korea may have executed officials over flood damage: spy agency

North Korea is suspected of executing a number of officials held responsible for devastating floods this year and South Korea’s spy agency said it was “monitoring signs” to try to determine what had happened.

The agency’s announcement came a day after a South Korean broadcaster reported that up to 30 officials in flood-hit regions of North Korea had been shot to death. 

Heavy rains in July flooded large areas along the Amnok River in North Korea’s North Pyongan, Jagang and Ryanggang provinces with some South Korean media outlets reporting that more than 1,000 people were killed or were missing. 

At that time, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said that he would punish officials for the damage, which a South Korean government ministry said appeared to be an attempt by Kim’s to dodge blame for the disaster.

Since then, Kang Pong Hun, the chief secretary of the Jagang Provincial Committee of the North’s ruling party, and other senior officials, including Public Security Minister Ri Thae Sop, were dismissed from their posts over the flood damage, according to North Korea’s state-media.

The South’s National Intelligence Service, or NIS, said Kang was possibly among the executed officials.

NIS’s announcement came a day after South Korea’s TV Chosun cited an unidentified South Korean government source as saying North Korean officials deemed responsible for the flood disaster had likely been executed.

“We understand late last month, 20 to 30 officials in the affected region were shot to death, including Kang Pong Hun” TV Chosun quoted the official as saying.

Since the disaster, the North’s state media have featured Kim leading flood relief efforts, emphasizing his concern for the victims, but it has given no details of casualties.  

South Korea said that there was a high possibility of casualties given that North Korea was reporting the rescue effort in such detail.

A resident of the northwestern province of North Pyongan told Radio Free Asia Korean, on condition of anonymity for security reasons, that residents affected by the flood were forced to watch propaganda videos that portrayed Kim as a hero and were told they must avoid showing even a hint of sadness on their faces. 

Another resident told RFA Korean that soldiers mobilized to rebuild flood-hit towns were stealing food and other supplies because they have been given none by the government, upsetting residents.

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North Korea reportedly declined a rescue offer from China, and did not respond to a South Korean offer of aid. 

But the North’s official Korean Central News Agency reported in August that Russian President Vladimir Putin offered humanitarian assistance to help North Korea cope with flood damage in another sign of expanding relations between the two nations.

Russia’s state-run Tass news agency carried a similar report, saying that Putin told Kim in a message: “You can always count on our assistance and support.”

Edited by Mike Firn.