North Korea prepares for heavy rain, state media says

North Korea has stepped up flood-prevention work ahead of heavy rain forecast for Thursday night and Friday morning, state media said, as monsoon weather affected both sides of the Korean Peninsula.

South Korea's Yonhap News Agency, citing state television, said North Korea's State Hydro-Meteorological Administration forecast 100 to 150 millimetres of rain across several southern provinces.

North Korea's Korean Central News Agency said authorities had intensified disaster-prevention efforts in recent weeks. It said the Kim Chaek Iron and Steel Complex had dredged rivers, built retaining walls and reinforced embankments in flood-prone areas. It also said the Musan Mining Complex had carried out dredging and landslide-prevention work.

In South Korea, heavy rain advisories were in effect Thursday for parts of the Seoul metropolitan area, mountain areas of Gangwon province and parts of North Gyeongsang province. Emergency crews were searching for a person swept away by a swollen stream, and more than 300 cases of property damage were reported.

North Korea is vulnerable to natural disasters because of weak infrastructure and economic strains. South Korean media reported that severe flooding in northern North Korea near China in 2024 may have left as many as 1,500 people dead or missing, a figure Pyongyang dismissed at the time.