North Korean authorities urgently ordered people in the coastal areas of North Hamgyong Province to evacuate yesterday night because of concern over Typhoon Haishen, Daily NK has learned.
“The evacuation order was suddenly handed down by the Executive Policy Bureau of the Central Committee at 11 PM yesterday,” a source in North Hamgyong Province told Daily NK earlier today. “The evacuation order directed all residents on the coast and areas expected to be damaged [by the typhoon] in North Hamgyong Province to evacuate by 7 AM today.”
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had held an expanded meeting of the communist party’s Executive Policy Bureau in South Hamgyong Province on Saturday to review the damage done by Typhoon Maysak in the province. According to Korean Central Television (KCTV), Kim had discussed plans to move local residents to “safe ground” during the meeting. The source’s report about the urgent order to evacuate is likely the result of that discussion.
“The authorities emphasized that all those affected by the order should move to the interior of the country or ‘safe’ public buildings,” the source said. “There was also a directive that said it was alright for people to use wartime air-raid shelters if needed.”
That even wartime air-raid shelters have been opened for people to evacuate into strongly suggests that Kim, who is the country’s supreme military commander, ordered the urgent evacuation in the province.
The urgent order has led provincial, municipal and county party apparatuses to organize 12-hour “all-night battles” and the authorities are focusing on ways to preserve both lives and property on the coast and other areas expected to be damaged by the typhoon.
The source also told Daily NK that local authorities have reported on the evacuations and damage from winds and rain on a fixed schedule. “The provincial party is doing its best to carry forward the leadership’s directive given that top officials in South Hamgyong Province and Kangwon Province have been dismissed.”
Indeed, Kim Jong Un dismissed the party committee chairman of South Hamgyong Province at the Executive Policy Bureau expanded meeting on Saturday and appointed the vice director of the Central Committee’s Organization Guidance Department in his place. Moreover, at a disciplinary meeting presided over by former premier Kim Jae Ryong (now the director of the Organization Administrative Department) on Sept. 3, there was reportedly a decision to punish officials in Kangwon Province and Wonsan.
The total number of people who will need to evacuate as a result of the order is estimated to be around 16,000, including those living in Kimchaek, Hwadae, Orang and Chongjin.
“People living within a 10 kilometer radius of the coast, including Kimchaek, Hwadae, Orang, Gyungsong, Chongjin, and other places designated as No. 1 Damage Areas, must evacuate, according to the Executive Policy Bureau’s order,” the source said. “Huiryong, Onsong and other places designated as No. 2 Damage Areas must put in place safety measures in the mid-sized apartments or buildings people live and wait in place.”
The safety measures to be put in place in the No. 2 Damage Area will be reviewed after mobilizing all local officials, the source said.
People living in areas where the evacuation order was handed down quickly moved to safer ground during all of last night, according to the source.
“The provincial [authorities] ordered people to just bring their portraits [of the leaders], money they have at home, and just enough food to last a couple of days,” the source said. “I’ve heard talk that there were no vehicles, gas or even time to move all their belongings, and that everything moved so quickly it was like a war had broken out.”
In short, the source said, “everyone on the coast in North Hamgyong Province – even those working at factories – have moved somewhere else without getting a wink of sleep.” Some officials reportedly had to face some elderly residents among the evacuees arguing that they preferred to stay at home, he added.
The urgent evacuation order was likely aimed at calming fears among the local population about potential damage caused by the storm and to show that the government could take large-scale measures in advance to protect the population from harm.
“South Hamgyong Province and Kangwon Province both saw huge amounts of damage [from monsoon rains and storms], and [many people] have expressed resentment and discontent toward the state,” the source said. “It would have been difficult [for the leadership] just to stand by.”
The leadership also figured that they could promote the fact that the party had the “foresight” to evacuate everyone to ensure that damage to lives and property was small, the source added.
The evacuation order did not apply to residents in Kangwon or South Hamgyong provinces, which are also on the country’s eastern seaboard, according to the source.
“That’s because the entire area has been completely destroyed – there’s nothing left to be damaged,” the source said, adding, “There have, however, been bans handed down in both provinces on ‘going near the beach’ and to ‘halt reconstruction efforts.'”
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