[Yonhap Photo]
North Korea is suspected of diverting international aid for the restoration of flood damage to war goods or leader Kim Jong-un's pet projects such as skyscrapers in Pyongyang, according to a US broadcaster.
Massive floods last summer killed hundreds of people and destroyed thousands of houses in North Korea's northeastern towns along the Tumen River that flows on the border with China.
Pyongyang's state media reported earlier that it was the worst flood in the region since the Korean peninsula was split at the end of World War II. For months, many North Korean workers had been mobilized to restore damaged buildings, bridges, roads, electricity and communication lines.
A large portion of materials and financial assistance provided by the international community has been diverted to the construction of buildings in Pyongyang's Ryomyong Street and an underwater hotel in the eastern port of Wonsan, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported in a Korean-language article.
It quoted multiple sources in the communist country as saying canned food, Russian diesel oil and tents were all kept as war supplies,
RFA, a US government-financed nonprofit broadcasting agency, broadcasts and publishes online news, information, and commentary to listeners in North Korea and other East Asian countries.
In a flood-stricken area along the border with China, some 20 houses were newly built with just 60 percent of homeless people receiving 50 kilograms of rice and other home-made relief goods each household, the broadcaster said.
About three million US dollars in emergency cash aid offered by China was used to acquire excavators, iron bars, cement and other construction equipment or building materials for the Ryomyong project.
Under a special order from leader Kim Jong-un, North Korean soldiers have been mobilized to build modern apartments and high-rise buildings in the "green" street with lighting and heating systems that use solar panels and geothermal energy.
Among Kim's pet projects is an underwater hotel under construction in Wonsan as part of efforts to transform it into a tourist and leisure retreat aimed at attracting foreign tourists.
Given the costly nature of an underwater hotel project, it remains to be seen how North Korea will finance its construction at Wonsan.
Wonsan has historically been seen as a city geared towards recreation and the details of the Wonsan area development plan is further evidence of this push to transform the area.
Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
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