Earlier in July, a week of heavy rainfall and floods caused 88 deaths and left thousands homeless.
It is feared that flooding in many parts of the impoverished country will deal a severe blow to North Korea's already malfunctioning economy.
The storms destroyed 46,000 hectares of crops to exacerbate its already serious food shortage.
"Downpours swept some east and west coastal areas of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea on 29-30 July, leaving 31 people dead and 16 missing," the KCNA news agency reported.
A United Nations inter-agency team had already been deployed to the two hardest-hit areas to assess the damage with a view to developing an aid plan.
Since the mid-1990s, North Korea's farm sector has frequently been devastated by floods and drought. The new disaster could harm leader Kim Jong-un's efforts to repair the moribund economy, especially as floods damaged some coal mines, North Korea's primary energy source
Thursday 2 August 2012
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/aug/01/north-korea-rainstorms-typhoon
