North Korea: Citizens to protect Kim portraits during storm

To deal with climate disasters, the North Korean regime is setting its priorities. The North Koreans must protect the Kim Dynasty effigies from Storm Hanun at all costs, the official North Korean newspaper reported Thursday.

The North Koreans’ “top priority” should be to “secure” portraits of the Kim dynasty, as well as statues, mosaics, murals and other monuments to them, Rodong Sinmun reported this Thursday. Pyongyang considers it its duty to protect the effigies of the Kim dynasty. Portraits of Kim Jong Un, his father Kim Jong Il and grandfather Kim Il Sung, the founder of North Korea, hang in every home and office across the country.

Tropical Storm Hanoon, which hit Japan before reaching the Korean Peninsula, reached North Korea early Friday after bringing heavy rains to its southern neighbor.

A country with fragile infrastructure

Natural disasters tend to be more severe than anywhere else in North Korea, as the country is reclusive and poor. Its infrastructure is fragile, and deforestation on its territory has created a breeding ground for floods.

State news agency KCNA reported on Thursday that “all sectors and divisions” in the country are “carrying out a vigorous campaign against catastrophic abnormal climatic conditions.” “There were high wind, flood, tidal wave and maritime warnings,” KCNA added, noting that protecting crops from the typhoon is another priority.

Last February, the ruling Workers’ Party held a meeting on food shortages and problems in the agricultural sector. Famine in this country, considered one of the most closed off in the world, is recurring and has dramatic consequences. In the mid-1990s, one of them caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people, and by some estimates even millions.