The entire of North Korea is suffering from its worst drought in history, dubbed "King Drought in the Millennium." Accompanied by extraordinary high temperatures and strong winds, the dryness has lasted more than 90 days since early March. Rainfall during this period averaged 18.3mm, a mere 11% of the average in ordinary years and 17% of last year's. Quite a few places had no rain whatsoever in April, among them the capital of Pyongyang, along with Pyongsong, Anju and Sukchon in South Pyongan Province; Sinchon, Jangyon and Unyul in South Hwanghai Province; and Suan and Tosan in North Hwanghai Province. "This is a peculiar phenomenon that occurs only once in a millennium," said an official of the Pyongyang Meteorological Bureau.

A deputy bureau director-general of the North's Agriculture Ministry, Kim Hyok Jin, in an interview with the Korea Central Broadcasting Station on June 6, disclosed that 72% of the country's entire farmland corresponding to 3.3 million acres was affected by the dry weather. As of June 1, 80%-90% of potatoes, wheat and barley were blighted, according to figures released by the Agriculture Ministry. Strong winds uprooted crops in Kosong in Kangwon Province, Sariwon in North Hwanghai Province, Chongjin in North Hamgyong Province, and Haiju in South Hwanghai Province. In addition, fruit flowers like those of apricots and peaches were also struck. Such abnormal weather conditions made soil moisture evaporate and soil has dried up down to 20cm or more, rendering it difficult to expect crops' budding and growth, says the North Korean media.

The prolonged period of dry weather is anticipated to further aggravate the already serious food shortages in the North. The World Food Program (WFP), which along with the North's Great Flood Countermeasures Committee is monitoring the drought's extensive damage on crops, revealed in a recent report that grains planted for double-cropping purposes like winter and spring wheat, barley and potatoes, were hit severely. These crops planted in winter or early spring account for 10% of the entire farm output of the North and help maintain the population's food supply until rice is harvested in October, says the report, indicating that the drought damage would worsen the North's food shortages this year.

North Korea is doing its best to combat the drought damage. Based on damage reports filed by its officials dispatched to provinces, the Ministry of Agriculture is making desperate efforts, putting up irrigation facilities and adjusting power supply for the purpose of maximizing the operation of water pumps. Provincial agricultural agencies, in a bid to secure water for farming purposes, are digging wells and constructing small water reservoirs and pools. Large-scale drives are underway among residents to carry water to farmland with the help of machines. Even an emergency step of drawing seawater into rivers is recently being taken, according to the Korea Central News Agency.

As electricity generation by hydroelectric power plants has fallen because of the lengthy dry weather, North Koreans are reinforcing the "alternate production" system at plants and business establishments with a view to saving energy and normalizing production. The system calls for balancing power supply with its consumption by alternating production among power users belonging to the same power grid. Plants and business establishments are reminded by newspapers and broadcasting stations of the power scarcity, and urged to thoroughly comply with alternate production tables, periodically adjusted by the first and second half of the month, week or even by day.

(Kim Kwang In, kki@chosun.com )