video transcript

North Korean state media reports that at least 88 people are dead as severe floods sweep the isolated country. The disaster is threatening to make the poverty-stricken nation's already chronic food shortage even worse. The floods were brought on by heavy downpours as a result of Typhoon Khanun. Official news agency KCNA said the western part of the country was the hardest hit. They also reported that 134 people had been injured, tens of thousands left homeless, and more than 5,000 houses destroyed. Since the mid-1990s, North Korea's farm sector has often been devastated by both floods and drought. Even before this summer's floods, the country's dysfunctional food distribution system, very high inflation and international sanctions had contributed to what appears to be severe hunger. Travis Brecher, Reuters