North Korea Works to Prevent Flood Damages amid COVID Crisis

Concerns about the downpour come as North Korea is battling its first domestic coronavirus outbreak. (File/AFP)
Concerns about the downpour come as North Korea is battling its first domestic coronavirus outbreak. (File/AFP)
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North Korea Works to Prevent Flood Damages amid COVID Crisis

Concerns about the downpour come as North Korea is battling its first domestic coronavirus outbreak. (File/AFP)
Concerns about the downpour come as North Korea is battling its first domestic coronavirus outbreak. (File/AFP)

North Koreans were working to protect crops and equipment from potential damage after days of heavy rainfall, state media said, as outside observers worry any flooding could aggravate the country’s economic hardships amid its COVID-19 outbreak.

Summer floods in North Korea, one of the poorest countries in Asia, often cause serious damage to its agricultural and other sectors because of its troubled drainage and deforestation, The Associated Press said.

Typhoons and torrential rains in 2020 were among the difficulties leader Kim Jong Un said had created “multiple crises” at home, along with strict pandemic-related restrictions and UN sanctions over his nuclear weapons program.

North Korea’s weather authorities predicted this year’s rainy season would start in late June and issued alerts for torrential downpours in most of its regions from Monday through Wednesday.

The official Korean Central News Agency said Tuesday that authorities in the North’s central and southwestern regions are mobilizing all available resources to cope with possible flood-related damage.

Officials and workers were working to protect crops, factory equipment, power plant facilities and fishing boats from heavy rains, KCNA reported. It said the country’s anti-disaster agency was reviewing readiness of emergency workers and medical staff.

KCNA said North Korean officials are urging residents and laborers to abide by pandemic-related restrictions during the country’s monsoon season. It said medical workers were ready to deal with any potential major health issues and officials were working to ensure epidemic control measures at shelters for people evacuated from flood-damaged areas.

South Korea’s weather agency said most of North Korea has been receiving heavy rains since Sunday.

South Korea’s Unification Ministry said in a statement later Tuesday it wants North Korea to inform the South in advance if it plans to release dammed water along the rivals’ border. Some of the North’s previous sudden, unnotified discharge of dam water caused deaths in frontline South Korean towns.

The South Korean ministry said North Korea was unresponsive to South Korean calls via some cross-border communication channels on Tuesday likely due to technical problems caused by floods.

Concerns about the heavy rains come after North Korea admitted last month to a domestic coronavirus outbreak. It has said about 4.7 million out of the country’s 26 million people became ill and only 73 died, but experts question whether North Korea's propaganda has given a true picture of the outbreak.



Kremlin Says Topic of Another Russia-US Prisoner Swap is on Agenda

Russian police patrol in front of the Moscow Kremlin on Red Square in Moscow, Russia, 13 February 2025. EPA/MAXIM SHIPENKOV
Russian police patrol in front of the Moscow Kremlin on Red Square in Moscow, Russia, 13 February 2025. EPA/MAXIM SHIPENKOV
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Kremlin Says Topic of Another Russia-US Prisoner Swap is on Agenda

Russian police patrol in front of the Moscow Kremlin on Red Square in Moscow, Russia, 13 February 2025. EPA/MAXIM SHIPENKOV
Russian police patrol in front of the Moscow Kremlin on Red Square in Moscow, Russia, 13 February 2025. EPA/MAXIM SHIPENKOV

The Kremlin said on Thursday that the idea of a possible new prisoner exchange between Russia and the United States was on the agenda after Moscow and Washington agreed to start work on restoring relations at all levels.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, asked by reporters about the possibility of a new swap, said US-Russia talks on Tuesday in Riyadh had contributed to a general rapprochement between the US and Russia.
At least 10 Americans remain behind bars in Russia, including two who have been designated as "wrongfully detained" by Washington, Reuters reported. Moscow freed an American citizen, Kalob Byers, days before the Russian and American delegations met in the Saudi capital.
Earlier this month, Russia freed Marc Fogel, a S. schoolteacher who had been serving a 14-year sentence for drug smuggling after being caught at a Moscow airport with a small amount of marijuana.
He was freed in exchange for Alexander Vinnik, a Russian cybercrime boss who had pleaded guilty to money laundering, after being extradited from Greece.
The swap came on the heels of a much larger prisoner exchange last August, involving the United States, Germany, Norway, Slovenia, Russia and Belarus.
Among those freed at that time was Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter who had been jailed in Russia on espionage charges that he, the newspaper and the US government denied.