N. Korea convenes meeting to discuss natural disaster prevention measures

SEOUL, March 22 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has convened a meeting of its national crisis response committee to discuss ways to strengthen the country's capability to tackle natural disasters and other challenges, state media reported Wednesday.

The meeting took place virtually Tuesday to discuss progress in natural disaster prevention projects, such as recovery efforts from last year's floods and measures to "swiftly" deal with various disasters, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

The session came as the North has ramped up efforts to address its chronic food shortages that have apparently been aggravated by natural disasters and the COVID-19 pandemic in recent years.

In October, the North adopted a crisis response law that outlined the establishment of the national crisis response committee in the wake of heavy flooding and the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The North designated the scope of the "crisis" as the inflow and spread of malicious diseases, and the occurrence of natural disasters, such as floods, typhoons and earthquakes, according to state media reports.

Meanwhile, the Standing Committee of the Supreme People's Assembly held a separate meeting to review revisions to laws on public health, health care and transportation, according to the KCNA.

Laws on public health and health care were revised to better protect people's health, while new issues were addressed in the transportation law to stamp out traffic violations, the KCNA said without providing details. It did not specify when the session took place.

yunhwanchae@yna.co.kr
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