Grateful visit: Kim at an air force helicopter unit to praise the troops for helping rescue people from recent floods at an undisclosed location in North Korea. — AP
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has accused South Korea’s “rubbish” media of tarnishing the North’s image by allegedly exaggerating the death tolls from recent floods that hit the country’s northwest region and hinted that he would refuse Seoul’s offer for aid.
Kim made the comments on Friday during a visit to an air force helicopter unit, where he praised the troops for helping rescue people from the floods, North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said yesterday.
During the visit, Kim denied claims by South Korean media that 1,000 to 1,500 North Koreans would have died from the floods and that multiple helicopters might have crashed during the emergency response. He described the reports as a “vicious smear campaign” by the South.
Kim labelled South Korea as an unchangeable enemy and stressed that the North will never sacrifice its national defence to improve disaster recovery or people’s standards of living – hinting that Pyongyang would reject Seoul’s aid offer.
South Korea’s government on Thursday offered to send aid supplies to address the “humanitarian challenges” facing North Korean residents in flood-affected areas near the country’s border with China, but it was widely expected that North Korea would reject the offer.
Animosity between the war-divided rivals is at its highest in years over the North’s growing nuclear ambitions and the South’s expansion of combined military exercises with the United States and Japan to counter the North’s threats. — AP
