North Korea faces an ‘unusual’ and ‘severe’ drought this year and is working to protect crops, state media said Thursday.

Natural disasters tend to have an outsized impact on the isolated country due to its weak infrastructure and economy.

Elizabeth Salmon, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in North Korea, said in February that food shortages are already a key concern in the country.

‘An unusual drought has recently persisted across much of the country, a phenomenon rarely seen in previous years,’ Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency said.

‘Workers across various regions are concentrating all efforts on protecting early-season crops from the drought,’ it added.

South Korea — Asia’s fourth largest economy — also endured a prolonged drought last year that hit the eastern coastal city of Gangneung.

That dry spell forced authorities to implement water restrictions, including shutting off 75 per cent of household meters across the city.

‘Cities and counties are responsibly carrying out repairs to the gates of reservoirs and waterways in line with reduced water supplies caused by the severe drought,’ KCNA said.

Workers are also implementing ‘technical measures to minimise drought damage,’ boosting the drought resistance of wheat and barley and striving to ensure the stable growth of early-season crops, it added.

South Korea recorded its hottest summer on record last year, while both the North and the South also saw their warmest June.

Climate change is making heatwaves more frequent and intense, and experts say the seasonal El Nino weather phenomenon will likely return this year.

The weather pattern can bring heat, drought and heavy rain to different parts of Asia.

The North has long endured power shortages, and experts say most residents have no access to air conditioning.

The country was hit by severe flooding in its northern regions near China in 2024, with South Korean media reporting the number of dead and missing in the North due to the disaster could be as high as 1,500.

The North dismissed South Korean reports at the time on the estimated number of people missing.