The international community has embarked on humanitarian assistance for North Korea, which has suffered hundreds of casualties and damages to its infrastructure due to a flood that occurred in the North Hamgyong Province. However, because of the negative views on North Korea in the international community due to the North's fifth nuclear test on September 9, aid is expected to be scaled down significantly. The South Korean government is reluctant on humanitarian assistance for the North.

On September 14, the Korea Central News Agency reported, "The massive flood caused by the typhoon that swept through the North Hamgyong Province between August 29 and September 2 was the biggest catastrophe since national liberation." According to the North Korean press, 60 people died and 25 are missing due to the latest flood. The water also flooded 79 km2 of fields and rice paddies and displaced over 44,000 people. The UN Resident Coordinator in Pyongyang released a statement on September 14 and announced, "So far, 138 people have died and 400 people have gone missing, and 20,000 houses have collapsed. With winter approaching, the situation will become more serious."

The World Food Programme (WFP) provided emergency food aid to 140,000 residents in North Hamgyong Province and Ryanggang Province and the International Red Cross provided $520,000 in emergency funds. North Korea sent an e-mail to U.S. organizations providing aid to North Korea requesting urgent support through its mission at the United Nations. But due to the aftermath of the North's fifth nuclear test, massive support from the international community does not seem likely.

The South Korean government is not actively engaging in humanitarian assistance for the North, either. Unlike the past, when humanitarian aid for the recovery from natural catastrophes acted as a spark in rekindling inter-Korean relations, relations on the Korean Peninsula have been completely severed. And as the South adds pressure on the North for the fifth nuclear test, the situation is not welcoming discussions of humanitarian aid.

On September 5, ChildFund Korea, which chairs the Korea NGO Council for Cooperation with North Korea applied for contact with North Korea in a third country on September 19-20 to help flood recovery in the North, and now eyes are on whether the government will approve of the meeting. The council, which consists of 59 private organizations providing assistance to North Korea, decided to support North Korea's flood recovery at an emergency meeting of its standing committee on September 9. An official from the unification ministry said, "We will decide on whether to approve the meeting after comprehensively reviewing the urgency and necessity of the flood aid." Another government official said, "We may consider the matter if North Korea directly requests for assistance, but in the current atmosphere between the North and the South, Pyongyang does not seem likely to make such a request." This could actually be interpreted as a negative response.

The opposition party cautiously raised the need to provide humanitarian aid to the North. Ki Dong-min, the parliamentary spokesperson for the Minjoo Party of Korea released a comment on September 18 and said, "It is truly pathetic how the North Korean authorities held a celebration of its nuclear test gathering hundreds of thousands of people amidst this disaster, but we are also concerned about the people suffering from the flood. Even if we do not approve of the North Korean authorities, ignoring the suffering of our people is not the humane way, either." Former party leader Kim Jong-in also wrote on his Facebook account, "Due to the North's attempt to develop nuclear weapons, there is tension and even hostility towards the North Korean leadership, but apart from this, from a humanitarian aspect, we need to quickly provide relief with the cooperation of international organizations."