Seoul, Sep 12, 2016 - At least 133 people died and 395 were missing as a result of the floods affecting the northeastern North Korea since the beginning of the month, according to a new UN statement released on Monday in Seoul.
The previous balance sheet, which was dated Thursday, was 60 dead.
In addition, a total of 107,000 people were evacuated from areas near the Tumen River, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), citing as source the North Korean government.
The Tumen River serves in part of its course, as a natural border between North Korea on one side, and China and Russia on the other.
According to the balance of OCHA, more than 35,000 homes and 8,700 public buildings were damaged or destroyed by rising river levels, caused by heavy rains.
A total of 16,000 hectares of crops are flooded and at least 140,000 people need urgent help, the statement dated on Sunday, but it was received on Monday.
The North Korean official news agency KCNA indicated on Sunday that "tens of thousands" of home and public buildings were destroyed, as well as railway stretches, roads, power lines, factories and fields of crops.
The inhabitants of Hamyong province in the northeast, are suffering "great difficulties", according to KCNA, which announced uqe a campaign to stimulate the national economy has been redirected to support the flood victims.
The goal is to "redirect all efforts to building homes to offer a comfortable place to people affected by floods and turn in a year the areas affected in a dream world under the aegis of the Workers Party", the official agency.
In the absence of adequate infrastructure and equipment, North Korea is particularly vulnerable to natural disasters, especially floods caused mainly by deforestation of the hills.
During the summer of 2012, floods and landslides caused by torrential rains have left 169 dead, 400 missing and 212,200 displaced, and razed 650 km2 of cultivated land, according to North Korean official media.
Floods and heavy rains were some of the causes of the great famine that left hundreds of thousands dead between 1994 and 1998 in North Korea, one of the most isolated countries in the world.
The UN Security Council working on a new resolution that can toughen sanctions against Pyongyang after its fifth nuclear test.
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