North Korean media on Sunday released photos of leader Kim Jong Un visiting storm-ravaged coastal areas. A high-ranking official has been fired in response to a natural disaster.

Pictures from the Korean Central News Agency showed the 36-year-old dictator wearing a white shirt, beige slacks and matching military-style puffed hats in South Hong Kong province on Saturday.

The government news agency reported last week that Typhoon Maysak had destroyed more than a thousand homes and submerged public buildings and farms in the southern and northern Hmong provinces.

Dozens of “massacres” were reported in the southern Kangwon province south of the Hong Kong province, the leading Rodong Sinm newspaper in the Hermit Kingdom said on Saturday.

North Korea’s ruling party has called for local officials to be “severely punished” for disobeying orders during the hurricane, which means relocating workers to safety.

KCNA has announced the dismissal of Kim Jong-il, chairman of the Workers’ Party’s South Ham Yong Provincial Committee, and the appointment of a successor.

He also promised to send 12,000 members of the ruling Workers’ Party from Pyongyang to assist in recovery efforts.

The isolated nation is experiencing heavy rains, floods and hurricanes. It was bracing for the 10th hurricane of the season, which was blowing over the East China Sea over the weekend.

Experts say Kim’s latest visit to areas devastated by natural disasters will be an attempt to boost morale despite the economic woes exacerbated by the US – led sanctions on North Korea’s nuclear program.

The dictator toured the west coast, which was devastated by another hurricane late last month. Visited other places affected by torrential rains and floods in August.

“Kim Jong Un’s regular visits to the provinces are to show the people’s leader in the face of natural disasters,” Professor Leaf-Eric Easley of Eva University in Seoul told the Associated Press.

“But this is a tangible recognition of the fact that the elite in Pyongyang are not self-sufficient. Kim’s increased focus on farmers reflects the country’s worrying food supply situation. ”

And shape Following the allegations Kim was in a coma.

In the post wires