Weather Signs

SEOUL (AP) — Heavy rains that battered North Korea in recent weeks have heavily damaged crops, state media said Monday, dealing a further blow to the impoverished country as it struggles to avert a food crisis. Strong downpours pounded many parts of North Korea between Friday and Sunday, including Kangwon province, which received 12.7 inches of rain, the official Korean Central News Agency reported. The harsh weather came a week after similar rains lashed the country, it said. The heavy rains came as North Korea faces its worst food crisis since the late 1990s, when an estimated 2 million people died of hunger. The North has since relied on foreign aid to feed its 23 million people.