April 28, 2024
News

Angry Kim Jong Un slams top official over farm flooding, calls for punishment

Expert says criticism aims to show North Korean leader cares about disaster response after state failed to prepare

A furious Kim Jong Un accused North Korea’s premier and local officials of “irresponsible delinquency” for allowing seawater to flood rice paddies, after an embankment failed at a reclamation area on the east coast, state media reported Tuesday.

The North Korean leader inspected the flooding at the Tideland Reclamation Complex in South Phyongan Province on Monday, according to the Rodong Sinmun. He reportedly “made clear that the current damage is not a calamity due to natural disaster, but precisely man-made calamity by irresponsibility and indiscipline of idlers,” singling out premier Kim Tok Hun.

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