Bloomberg
2012-08-11
Aug 5, 2012 — North Korea said 400 people were missing and about 212,000 were left homeless following heavy rains and floods that lasted through July.
The floods killed 169 people and injured 144, while destroying more than 8,600 houses and submerging 43,770 residential buildings, the official Korean Central News Agency said yesterday. At least 65,280 hectares of farmland was damaged, KCNA said.
Inundation of coal mines north of Pyongyang threatens to hurt the isolated communist country that relies on exports of underground minerals as one of few legitimate ways to earn foreign currencies. North Korea, now under the leadership of Kim Jong Un, has been grappling with decades of food shortages and economic mismanagement, while its nuclear weapons and missile programs have cut international support.