North Korean leader Kim Jong-un took swipe at South Korean media reports on flood damage in the North in an apparent attempt to divert public attention from the emergency situation, Seoul's unification ministry said Monday.
During a visit to flood-hit areas of Uiju County in the northwestern province of North Pyongan last week, Kim lashed out at South Korean media reports that floods in areas along the Amnok River generated massive casualties.
Kim rebuked South Korean media outlets as the media of the "dirty, rubbish country," saying that South Korea, an "unchangeable enemy" of North Korea, is staging smear campaigns against his country.
The ministry in charge of inter-Korean affairs said the North's criticism at South Korea was probably intended to divert the public attention from severe flood damage.
"In an emergency situation where North Korea needs to mobilize all social capabilities due to the massive flood damage, it apparently intended to minimize the deterioration of public sentiment by shifting the subject of criticism to the outside," Koo Byoung-sam, spokesperson at the ministry, told a press briefing.
In late July, heavy rains pummeled the border city of Sinuiju and Uiju County in North Pyongan Province, with some South Korean media outlets reporting that the number of those who died or went missing could exceed about 1,000.
The North's leader said last week that he will bring victims of the recent heavy downpours to Pyongyang and take care of them without outside help.
On Aug. 1, South Korea offered to provide humanitarian aid to North Korea over the flood damage, but North Korea has remained unresponsive to the offer. (Yonhap)
