DPRK requests UN to release emergency supplies

UNITED NATIONS - The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has asked the United Nations to release emergency supplies after heavy rains have killed scores of people and left tens of thousands more homeless in the country, a UN spokesman told reporters here on Thursday.

"Torrential rains across the DPRK have resulted in widespread flooding, according to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)," said Martin Nesirky, the spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, at a daily briefing.

"The (DPRK) government has requested that the UN release its pre-positioned emergency stocks, including food and fuel," he said.

More than 100 people have died and that tens of thousands of people have lost their homes, said the spokesman, quoted reports by state media of DPRK.

The DPRK has suffered heavy rains and flooding since the start of the rainy season a week ago when a typhoon reached the country. It is another blow to the country when it is already in food shortage due to a severe drought in the last few months.

Earlier this week, the UN agencies took part in a wider mission to assess the damage in some of the country's most affected areas.