UN to visit flood-hit areas in N Korea

A United Nations team will visit flood-hit areas of North Korea to consider possible aid, a UN official said on Tuesday after Pyongyang reported scores dead and tens of thousands homeless. The country's official news agency published photographs showing large swathes of submerged land, and people wading through thigh-high water or taking refuge on rooftops. UN officials already based in the North would visit the two worst-affected counties "to see what help if any the UN country team can provide", said UNICEF's Bangkok-based regional spokesman Christoper de Bono by email. The flooding represents a challenge for Kim Jong-Un, new leader of a country which has grappled with severe food shortages since a famine in the 1990s killed hundreds of thousands.Following a visit to the country, UN agencies estimated last November that three million people would need food aid this year. Widespread deforestation, to collect firewood or clear land for agriculture, has made the impoverished nation increasingly prone to serious flooding which disrupts agriculture. On Saturday the official news agency said a week-long flood earlier in July had left 88 dead, injured 134, and made almost 63,000 people homeless. More than 30,000 hectares (74,000 acres) of crops were washed away or submerged, with roads and factories destroyed, it said.On Sunday state media reported strong winds and heavy rain were battering parts of the country, including the capital Pyongyang. The official news agency predicted that "most regions will face huge damage". The United States reached a deal in February this year to offer the North 240,000 tonnes of food in return for a freeze on nuclear and missile tests. But the plan was scrapped after Pyongyang's failed rocket launch in April, seen by the US and its allies as an attempted ballistic missile test.