Aid agencies rush in to assist North Korea flood victims

International aid agencies are speeding up efforts to get assistance to victims of the devastating floods in North Korea.

Heavy rains over the last few weeks have destroyed more than 10 per cent of the country's farmland at the height of the growing season.

North Korean officials says hundreds of people are dead or missing, and several hundred thousand are homeless.

Tong Chang Son from the Pukchang People's Committee says his region and others have been badly hit.

"What is badly needed first is rice, cement, daily necessities and medicines," he said. "I would be grateful if there is international aid, for there is great damage on a nation-wide scale."

[BBC]