Vladimir Putin assures Kim Jong-un of his support, after the floods which hit North Korea

Russian President Vladimir Putin assured North Korean leader Kim Jong-un of his “support”after floods hit North Korea in July, the Kremlin said in a statement. “We share the grief and mourning of the friendly people of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.”said Vladimir Putin in a message of condolence to Kim Jong-un. “You can always count on our help and support”he stressed. Moscow and Pyongyang have been allies since the end of the Korean War (1950-1953) but have grown closer since the Russian military operation launched in Ukraine in February 2022.

South Korea said Friday it had tried in vain to contact North Korea to offer help. Seoul’s Unification Ministry said the bad weather had caused the “a significant number of victims”had declared in a statement on Thursday that it was ready to “provide urgently” humanitarian aid to “victims of the North Korean catastrophe”. The ministry had tried to contact Pyongyang to present its offer of assistance through the Korean liaison office’s communication channel, but Pyongyang did not respond, Seoul said.

North Korea experienced record-breaking torrential rains in July. In the southwest of the country, the city of Kaesong recorded 463 millimeters of rain in a single day. This was the highest level recorded in the country in 29 years, according to the South Korean meteorological center. On July 31, Pyongyang had clarified that many “public buildings, facilities, roads and railways, including more than 4,100 dwellings and nearly 3,000 hectares of agricultural land” had been flooded in the northern regions of Sinuiju and Uiju.