UN to visit North Korea to assess flood needs
A delegation from the United Nations is to make a visit to North Korea to assess the damage caused by severe flooding there. Torrential rains have battered the country ever since Typhoon Khanun swept in: tens of thousands of people have been made homeless and at least 88 people have died.
The state news agency says rains between July the 18<sup>th and 24<sup>th destroyed around 5,000 houses, making 63,000 people homeless. A further 300 public buildings and 60 factory buildings have also been flooded out and have collapsed.
There's already a food shortage in North Korea, with 7.2 million of the 24 million people in the communist country being chronically poor. A UN team is heading to the two worst affected provinces of South Pyongan and Kangwon today, to quickly assess the damage and gauge any immediate needs for drinking water, food and shelter.