North Koreans must protect the statues of the Kim dynasty at all costs from Storm Khanun, which made landfall on the peninsula on Thursday, the Official Gazette of North Korea said.
• Also read: Khanun storm in South Korea: 10,000 people evacuated, hundreds of flights canceled
• Also read: North Korea invites foreigners to play golf
• Also read: North Korea: Kim Jong Un is preparing for “total war” with South Korea
North Koreans’ “top priority” should be to “ensure the safety” of their Kim dynasty portraits, as well as their statues, mosaics, murals and other relics, Rodong reported. They will sleep Thursday.
And Tropical Storm Khanun, which swept Japan before reaching the Korean Peninsula, arrived in North Korea early Friday morning, after heavy rains fell on its southern neighbor.
Pyongyang is keen to protect the statues of the Kim dynasty. Portraits of Kim Jong Un, his father Kim Jong Il, and grandfather Kim Il Sung, the founder of North Korea, are in every home and office in the country.
Natural disasters usually have greater consequences than anywhere else in North Korea, the isolated and impoverished country. Its infrastructure is fragile and deforestation in its lands has created a fertile environment for floods.
On Thursday, the official Central News Agency said that “all sectors and units” in the country were “launching a vigorous campaign to deal with the catastrophic abnormal climate”.
“High winds, flood, tsunami warnings and marine alerts have been issued,” the agency added, adding that protecting crops from the typhoon was a priority.
Hundreds of thousands of people died of starvation in North Korea in the mid-1990s, with some estimates running into the millions.
The ruling Labor Party held a meeting in February to address food shortages and problems in the agricultural sector.
According to the Rodong Sinmun newspaper, system officials have been called upon to ensure that the country’s overall production is not affected by “natural disasters”, including typhoons.
