Kim Jong-un slams South Korean 'fabricated' news on flood damage

Seoul, Aug 3 : North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has condemned South Korean media outlets for "fabricating" the scale of damage caused by recent floods in his country, the state media reported on Saturday, in his first public reaction to the South over the downpours.

In a sharp-tongued message, Kim called South Korea an "unchangeable enemy" but made no response to Seoul's latest offer of humanitarian aid over the flood damage.

The North's border city of Sinuiju and Uiju County in North Phyongan Province were recently pummeled by heavy rains. South Korean media outlets have reported that the number of those who died or went missing could exceed about 1,000, Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.

Kim accused South Korea of having a "wicked" purpose to tarnish North Korea's image and staging a slanderous propaganda campaign against his country, Yonhap news agency reported, quoting KCNA.

"The enemy's garbage media speculated that casualties in the affected areas would exceed 1,000 or 1,500 and has been spreading fabricated news reports that several helicopters on a rescue mission appear to have fallen," Kim was quoted as saying by the report. "The enemy is an unchangeable enemy."

His message came as Kim visited a helicopter unit engaged in a rescue operation on Friday to encourage troops.

Kim's hostile stance against Seoul raised the possibility that Pyongyang is unlikely to accept South Korea's proposal for aid. On Thursday, the government proposed humanitarian aid to North Korea over the flood damage, saying that it expects North Korea's swift reaction.

North Korea has not responded through an inter-Korean liaison communication channel since then.

Kim guided an operation Sunday to rescue around 5,000 isolated residents in the flood-hit areas of Sinuiju and Uiju County. North Korea has said the downpours left more than 4,100 houses and nearly 3,000 hectares of farmlands submerged. But it did not disclose details about casualties.

North Korea convened an emergency politburo meeting of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea earlier this week to discuss ways to cope with the flood damage.

At a year-end party meeting last year, Kim defined inter-Korean ties as those "between two states hostile to each other" and said there is no point in seeking reconciliation and unification with South Korea.