...hereditary Communist monarchy distinguished by its truculence and periodic acts of violence. Distinguishing features include Songun (Army First) policy, which involves feeding the army before anyone but the Dear Leadership, and Juche, which is Kim Jong Il's personal interpretation of Marxism-Leninism, which he told everybody was brilliant. In 1950 the industrialized North invaded agrarian South Korea. Twenty-one countries of the United Nations eventually contributed to the UN force opposing the invasion, with the United States providing around 90% of the military personnel. Seventy years later the economic results are in and it doesn't look good for Juche...
, with four others missing, and even approached the country’s main nuclear reactor, but leader Kim
PudgeJong-un
...the overweight, pouty-looking hereditary potentate of North Korea. Pudge appears to believe in his own divinity, but has yet to produce any loaves and fishes, so his subjects remain malnourished...
says he is too worried about coronavirus (aka COVID19 or Chinese Plague)
...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men...to accept outside help.
The International Federation of the Red Thingy said the floods have left 26 people dead or missing, citing the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Red Thingy and the country’s State Committee for Emergency and Disaster Management.
The disaster adds to an already troubling humanitarian situation in North Korea, whose weak economy has been further battered by the coronavirus pandemic.
The official Korea Central News Agency (KCNA) said at least 16,680 houses and 630 public buildings have been destroyed or flooded during the monsoon, with nearly 100,000 acres of crops damaged and many roads, bridges and railway tracks broken. A dam at a power station also gave way, it said.
The floodwaters approached the Yongbyon nuclear complex last week, reaching the bases of two pump houses designed to cool the country’s main nuclear reactor, according to the 38 North website, citing satellite imagery.
The floodwaters have receded somewhat and pose "no imminent danger," since the main reactor apparently has not been operating for some time and a nearby experimental light water reactor has yet to come online, said Jenny Town, deputy director of 38 North, part of the Stimson Center.
"In the long run, though, it exposes a vulnerability of the reactors to extreme weather events such as floods," she wrote in an email, noting that North Korea has been working on building an embankment and dam along the Kuryong River to offer better protection.
"But this year, the river level is usually high," she added. "If this were to happen when a reactor was running, it could cause problems in the cooling systems that would necessitate the reactors to be shut down."
The floods have inflicted damage throughout the Korean Peninsula. In South Korea, weeks of rains have left 42 people dead or missing and more than 7,800 displaced, according to official estimates cited by the Yonhap News Agency. Provisional heavy-rain alerts were issued Friday for six cities and provinces, including Seoul, with more than 12 inches of rain forecast for some areas, KBS reported.