North Korea paper says current hardships from pandemic, flood damage as challenging as war

In this 2020 December file photo released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency, workers disinfect a public facility in Dancheon, North Korea. Yonhap

North Korea's main newspaper said Monday that the country is faced with war-like challenges from a triple whammy of the prolonged coronavirus pandemic, global sanctions and recent flooding.

"The challenges arising from an unprecedented global health crisis, protracted border closure and abnormal weather disasters have led to a crisis no less challenging than those during war," the Rodong Sinmun, the organ of the country's ruling Workers' Party, said in an editorial.

The paper also called on its people to help achieve a self-reliant economy that advances regardless of "any sanctions by hostile forces" or other external factors, including the lockdown.

"All party members and workers must strive to lead the world with our own creation using our own hands and finding it on our own land," it said.

Adding to North Korea's woes from the pandemic and international sanctions were recent heavy downpours that battered the country's eastern South Hamgyong Province. According to state media, the heavy rains left about 1,170 homes destroyed or flooded and forced some 5,000 residents to evacuate to safety. (Yonhap)