North Korea leader mobilizes military for relief work in flood-hit areas

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has mobilized the military to carry out relief work in areas recently hit by heavy rains, amid concerns over food shortages.

Kim issued the order on Sunday to “render powerful national material and financial support to South Hamgyong Province in its recovery campaign,” according to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

North Korean officials conveyed Kim's message during a meeting of the ruling Worker's Party's Central Military Commission on Sunday.

Kim himself did not attend the meeting, according to the KCNA.

More than a thousand homes were damaged and about 5,000 people evacuated after heavy rains caused flooding in the southern province, the news agency reported, adding that “hundreds of hectares of farmland" were submerged or lost in the region.

Officials discussed "emergency measures to promptly stabilize the living of people in the disaster-hit areas, further tightening emergency epidemic prevention work and minimizing the damage to crops," the report said.

Natural disasters tend to have a greater impact on North Korea, which is under harsh United Nations sanctions over its nuclear and missile programs. The US has spearheaded those sanctions and has imposed several rounds of its own.

North Korea admitted it was facing a food crisis in June.

North Korea demands sanctions relief to resume talks with US: Seoul

North Korea calls for relief from international sanctions as a precondition to resuming denuclearization talks with the United States, South Korean officials say.

The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization forecast in a report last month that the North was facing a food shortage of around 860,000 tons this year.

China warns US against stoking tensions

Meanwhile, China called for international sanctions to be lifted to help with the food shortages in North Korea, warning Washington against stoking regional tensions.

The US and South Korea are in talks over a joint military exercise, but no decision has been made yet, according to the South’s defense ministry.

North Korea has long viewed the drills, usually held in the spring and summer, as a hostile act and a rehearsal for a possible invasion.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told an online ASEAN foreign ministers forum on Friday that the US-South Korea joint military exercises would undermine efforts to resolve tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

“If the US really wants to restore dialogue with North Korea, it should not take any actions that will intensify tensions,” the Chinese foreign ministry quoted him as saying.

“An effective way to resolve the current deadlock is to lift sanctions imposed on North Korea by the United Nations Security Council,” he added.

North Korea warns US-South Korea war games to hamper diplomacy

Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, has warned that a planned joint US-South Korea military exercise will undercut a renewed push for diplomacy.

Last week, the North’s leader called for relief from international sanctions as a precondition to resuming denuclearization talks with Washington and Seoul.

The two Koreas are reportedly in talks to reopen a liaison office and hold a summit as part of efforts to re-establish relations.

Under the auspices of South Korea, former US president Donald Trump met with Kim three times. And lower-level talks were also held between the US and North Korea.

Trump, however, refused to relieve any of the sanctions against the North in return for several steps taken by Pyongyang toward denuclearization. That hampered further diplomacy and prompted Kim to announce an end to a moratorium on North Korea's missile tests.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk