North Korean floods again: Will the Kims ever learn?

North Korea has spent August coping with the aftermath of late-July flooding from heavy rains that destroyed river embankments as well as homes and other structures in the northern part of the country. The floods swept away uncounted numbers of people, many of whom are still missing.

Flooding is a perennial problem in the country and the Kim family regime has had eight decades to devise effective ways of dealing with it. The regime has worked on changing the optics but, in substance, it appears that not a lot about its responses has changed. Third-generation leader Kim Jong Un keeps following his grandfather’s and father’s well-thumbed playbook.

In a series of articles published over the course of August by Osaka-based AsiaPress, the regime can be seen to have emphasized once again these playbook responses:

• Mobilize the masses.
• Rebuild with the same old shoddy construction.
• Find scapegoats to blame and punish.
• Turn disaster into Kim personality cult propaganda.

AsiaPress cited state media as having reported that

AsiaPress keeps in touch with “reporting partners” inside North Korea through Chinese cell phones smuggled into the country. Here is some flood reporting that quotes such a source.

A week into August, AsiaPress asked the Hyesan reporting partner what measures the authorities were taking and how the recovery efforts were going. She replied:

Homeless to Pyongyang

AsiaPress asked that reporting partner about Kim Jong Un’s announcement that he would bring homeless flood victims to Pyongyang (excluding those whose loyalty to the regime is considered shaky) and about Kim’s rejection of aid offers from South Korea, Russia and international organizations. She replied:

Later in August, the central apparatus saw that