- The ministry attempted to contact North Korea via Korea’s liaison office communication channel.
- North Korea reported a "grave crisis" with over 5,000 residents isolated in flood-prone zones.
- Despite the heightened tensions, South Korea has maintained its position to continue humanitarian assistance to North Korea.
The ministry tried to contact North Korea through the Koreas’ liaison office communication channel to offer aid, but Pyongyang has not responded, Seoul reported on Friday.
“We will not make assumptions about the situation and look forward to a prompt response (from the North) to our proposal,” Kim In-ae, the deputy spokesperson for the ministry, told reporters.
Earlier this week, North Korea reported that a "record downpour" struck its northern border areas near China, leading to "a grave crisis" where over 5,000 residents were isolated in flood-prone zones. On Wednesday, Pyongyang stated that flooding had affected many "public buildings, facilities, roads, and railways," including more than 4,100 homes and nearly 3,000 hectares of farmland in the northern regions of Sinuiju and Uiju.
On the same day, North Korean state media reported that leader Kim Jong Un "proposed to strictly punish" officials who failed in their disaster prevention duties, which led to unspecified deaths or injuries "that cannot be allowed." South Korea’s TV Chosun reported that hundreds of people might have been killed.
This week, Kim has appeared in several videos navigating floodwaters in a rubber boat and supervising rescue operations with military helicopters. Natural disasters often have a more significant impact on the isolated and impoverished North due to its weak infrastructure, while deforestation has increased its vulnerability to flooding.
Relations between the two Koreas have reached one of their lowest points in years, with the North strengthening military ties with Russia and sending thousands of trash-carrying balloons to the South. In response, Seoul’s military blasts K-pop and anti-regime messages from border loudspeakers and has recently resumed live-fire drills on border islands and near the demilitarized zone that divides the Korean peninsula.
Despite the heightened tensions on the peninsula, South Korea’s unification ministry expressed "deep sympathy" for the flood victims in the North on Thursday. Seoul’s foreign ministry issued a separate statement on Friday, extending "deep condolences" to the North Koreans affected by the recent heavy rainfall. The foreign ministry added that South Korea has "consistently maintained the position" to continue humanitarian assistance to North Korea, regardless of the "political and military situation."
In 2020, Pyongyang unilaterally severed all official military and political communication links with Seoul and destroyed a disused inter-Korean liaison office on its side of the border. Although the inter-Korean liaison office channel was restored in 2021, the North has not responded to hotline calls since April 2023. Despite the lack of response from the North, Seoul has been attempting to communicate through the channel twice daily, every day, according to the unification ministry.
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