SEOUL, Aug 1, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - North Korea may have sustained "heavy casualties" from recent downpours, Seoul said Thursday, with a media report claiming up to 1,500 people could have died.

Pyongyang's state media said 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.

"The number of deaths and missing persons from this heavy rain is estimated to be between 1,100 and 1,500," a government official said, TV Chosun reported.

Rescue workers were among the fatalities, it said, with several helicopters crashing or attempting emergency landings, with everyone onboard dying in some instances.

Kim was briefed while on a rubber boat on the extent of the damage in flooded areas where "terrain and objects could not be identified due to severe flooding," an anchor on Pyongyang's Korean Central Television said.
In the wake of the flooding, Kim presided over a two-day emergency meeting of the Political Bureau of the Party, where he criticised officials for their "chronic and indifferent attitude towards disaster prevention work."

Kim claimed the damage could have been "surely minimised," according to the official KCNA.

It marked the first time that North Korea has convened such an emergency politburo meeting solely on flood damage, according to Seoul's unification ministry.

Natural disasters tend to have a greater impact on the isolated and impoverished North due to its weak infrastructure, while deforestation has left it vulnerable to flooding.