Kim comes to the rescue of flood victims
State media, KCNA, reported that 4,200 people were evacuated on Sunday, July 28, but it didn’t mention the fate of the remaining 800 residents
Kim Jong-un personally directed rescue operations last weekend following severe flooding in the city of Sinuiju and Uiju county on the Chinese border, according to North Korean media.
Kim mobilized air force helicopters and rescue boats belonging to the navy and the border security maritime patrol squadron in an attempt to save 5,000 residents stranded in flooded areas, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
Some 4,200 people were evacuated Sunday, the state news agency reported. The fate of the remaining 800 local residents was not mentioned.
The reports featured photos of Kim looking grimly out as his car drove through flooded streets. He was accompanied by Workers’ Party Secretaries Jo Yong-won and Park Tae-sung.
Kim Jong-un severely reprimanded officials responsible, KCNA said.
According to sources in the impacted area of North Pyongan Province, the Yalu River, which forms the border with China, was swollen after heavy rainfall and its banks on the North Korean side overflowed.
The country’s National Emergency Crisis Response Committee had met a week earlier on July 22, KCNA reported. But the main topics of discussion were measures to prevent damage to railways and agriculture, with no mention of countermeasures to prevent the flooding of the Yalu.
In the North Korean system, bodies such as the crisis response committee may only make recommendations. Mobilization of resources requires the direct approval of the political leadership. Given this, there is a tendency for citizens to hold the ruling Kim family responsible for disasters, although such thoughts are too dangerous to voice. This in turn results in parental scolding by the leadership of officials singled out for blame.
Incurring the leader’s wrath when he is in defensive mode can have serious consequences. In 2009, for example, following a disastrous currency re-evaluation, then-leader Kim Jong-il had Park Nam-ki, the head of the Workers’ Party’s Planning and Finance Department, executed. Citizens were forced to attend lectures that attributed all the blame to him.
The disaster this weekend, which appears to have caused at least 800 fatalities, was avoidable. Consequently, the system has already gone into high gear blaming Kim’s subordinates.
“What can no longer be tolerated is the irresponsibility and uncombativeness of the social safety agencies, which must guarantee and thoroughly ensure the safety of the people’s lives,” Kim was quoted as saying by KCNA.
“Long Live Comrade Kim Jong-un!”
The knowledge that Kim bears responsibility does not, however, seem to undermine support for him. Sources in the province report that in the affected areas it is, in fact, rising.
The explanation is the apparent unprecedented personal care demonstrated by Kim. With previous flooding in the country, the leadership has been reluctant to publicize the death toll and extent of the damage, and failed to take follow-up measures.
In August 2007, for example, over 600 people died in floods in Gangwon and North and South Hwanghae provinces. In 2016, floods in North Hamgyong killed 500. When the same area was devastated in 2019, the regime mentioned the displacement of 68,900 people without giving the death toll, which was believed to have run into the hundreds.
In the past, the regime appeared to have focused on recovery and been rather unconcerned about casualties. But that appears to have changed with Kim Jong-un for the first time showing genuine concern for saving lives.
KCNA reported July 30 that government ministries were preparing aid materials to send to the affected areas, with the Ministry of Metallurgical Industry and the Ministry of Chemical Industry providing the most aid.
This followed a party directive on July 29 to all institutions, enterprises, and people’s units across the country, instructing them to donate supplies to the flood-affected residents, even if they are used items, according to a knowledgeable source.
Given the already difficult situation for citizens, the government is not in a position to demand new items from them, hence the emphasis on donating used items, the source said.
“The unprecedented scale of the rescue teams mobilized for rescuing residents and the nationwide support measures have led the residents of the affected northern region of North Pyongan Province to shout ‘Long live Comrade Kim Jong-un!’ His approval rating is rising,” he said.
China and Russia seem to distance themselves
The indifferent attitude of China and Russia in this flood disaster is another reason why Kim Jong-un must now pay more attention to the sentiments of his people. In the past, these two main allies have been sent condolences and aid whenever North Korea faced natural disasters.
On his visit to Pyongyang in June, Russian President Putin even affirmed in the official treaty upgrading ties that the two countries would cooperate in natural disasters. However, there has been no word of support from Russia so far.
China has been unusually indifferent to this disaster, with no expression of condolences or intention to provide support.
Zane is a defector from North Korea. Before defecting in 2022, he worked at a state-run North Korean company based in Russia. Prior to his assignment in Russia, he had worked at the external affairs department of a company affiliated with the DPRK's Escort Bureau. He graduated from Pyongyang University of Architecture.
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