Some 300,000 North Koreans have volunteered to help with recovery efforts in the country's typhoon-hit eastern regions after leader Kim Jong-un called on party members to pitch in.
The North's state-run Korean Central News Agency reported on Monday that party members petitioned to help with recovery from damage in North and South Hamgyong Provinces on Sunday alone, with "eagerness to follow the party's initiatives," adding the number of volunteers was increasing.
On Sunday, leader Kim sent an open letter to party members in Pyongyang and said and said about 12,000 elite party members of the capital city would be sent to provinces to help with recovery work.
Elite party members held an emergency meeting immediately after Kim's letter to discuss how to organize the division of the members and the dispatch, according to the ruling party's Rodong Sinmun newspaper.
It added that trucks, excavators and other equipment necessary for restoration work had already been dispatched.
State media reported that Kim visited eastern South Hamgyong Province on Saturday, to check on the damage left by Typhoon Maysak.
Maysak hit the North last week, as it was still reeling from damage caused by another typhoon and heavy downpours.
Another powerful typhoon, Haishen, is expected to hit the country's eastern coast late Monday.
<Photo: Yonhap News>
