By Anna Fifield in Seoul

Published: July 19 2006 12:44 | Last updated: July 19 2006 12:44

North Korea is facing another food crisis after typhoons and then floods wiped out much-needed crops in the impoverished country, aid agencies have warned, just after South Korea refused to send any further humanitarian aid as punishment for Pyongyang’s provocative missile launches earlier this month.

Aid agencies say at least 100 people have been killed and 9,000 families are homeless after parts of North Korea, already battered by Typhoon Ewiniar, received more than 500mm of rain in the four days to Tuesday that triggered landslides and flash floods.

Extensive areas of farmland and fields have been inundated, wiping out much of the anticipated harvest, said Jaap Timmer, head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in Pyongyang.

Even before the flooding, experts in South Korea estimated the North was likely to suffer a food shortfall of 800,000-1m tonnes this year.

“In some remote areas, whole villages have been swept away and essential public services, such as healthcare clinics, have been destroyed,” Mr Timmer said. “There has also been widespread damage to roads and bridges, which has left many people displaced or stranded.”

About 11,500 houses in the provinces of South Pyongan, North Hwanghe and Kangwon were completely or partially destroyed. The Red Cross has mobilised more than 2,300 volunteers to provide first aid and rescue support in affected provinces, Mr Timmer said.

The North’s Central TV reported that heavy rain fell in South Pyongan, Hwanghae, South Hamgyong and Kangwon provinces for a week from last Monday.

“Agricultural and other sectors of the national economy and people’s livings were badly damaged by heavy rains in some areas,” the Korea Central News Agency reported.

In Pyongyang, the Daedong river that flows through the centre of the city flooded for the first time since 1990.

The extent of the damage is not known but analysts said it was likely to be much more severe than in the South – where at least 25 people have been killed and the flood damage is estimated at more than Won300bn ($300m) – because the North does not have the same level of flood prevention and infrastructure.

Coming as the international community seeks to put pressure on Kim Jong-il’s regime because of the missile tests, the disaster is likely to create a dilemma for donors, in particular South Korea.

Seoul – which last year donated 500,000 tonnes of rice and 350,000 tonnes of fertiliser through bilateral channels – has indefinitely suspended all shipments of humanitarian aid to North in response to the tests.

In April the North asked for the same amount again but at inter-Korean talks held earlier this month the South rejected the requests, although it said it would continue economic co-operation projects such as joint factories.

A senior official in the South’s unification ministry said on Wednesday it had not reconsidered its position as a result of the floods, and neither had the North renewed its requests.