North Korea floods may have caused ‘heavy casualties’: Seoul

SEOUL: North Korea may have sustained “heavy casualties” from recent downpours, Seoul said on Thursday, with a media report claiming up to 1,500 people could have died.

Pyongyang´s state media said on Thursday that some parts of the country in the north, near the border with China, “have recently been stricken severely by flooding and torrential rain.”

Leader Kim Jong Un has been shown in multiple videos this week traversing flood waters in a rubber boat, overseeing rescue operations involving military helicopters and bringing people to safety. State media has not mentioned any casualties.

South Korea´s unification ministry is assessing the damage and believes “there have been substantial human casualties from the heavy rains,” an official told reporters.

Satellite imagery analysis showed two provinces near the border with China were likely inundated, the official said. A report by South Korea´s TV Chosun said hundreds of people could have been killed.