By IANS/RIA Novosti,
Moscow : Severe floods have killed up to 169 people and injured 144 in North Korea since July, state KCNA news agency reported.
Another 400 people have gone missing in the floods that hit four regions of the country and destroyed crops in an area of 65,000 hectares.
UN experts, who came to North Korea this week to estimate damages, consider that the country is likely to face hunger due to crops losses.
Under UN estimates, about two-thirds of the population in North Korea faces shortage of food and pure water.
The floods, caused by recent downpours and typhoons, also hit North Korean mining industry as water flooded tens of coal mines in two large coal deposits in the country’s north. Coal production accounts for over 80 percent of North Korean fuel-energy balance.
North Korea’s agricultural sector has been repeatedly hitting by floods and droughts from mid-1990s.