3 September 2012 Last updated at 08:44 ET

North Korea says Typhoon Bolaven left 48 dead

Hundreds of trees were felled as the typhoon struck

Typhoon Bolaven has killed 48 people in North Korea and left more than 50 others injured or missing, state-run KCNA news agency reports.

The typhoon "brought big damage" to North Korea and displaced more than 20,000 people, it said. Hundreds of trees were felled and power cut.

The North was still reeling from floods in June and July that killed 169 people.

It is difficult to independently verify the casualty figures from North Korea.

Typhoon Bolaven travelled up the western side of the Korean peninsula after causing transport chaos but limited damage on the Japanese island of Okinawa.

In North Korea, the typhoon damaged thousands of homes and buildings and at least 50,000 hectares of farmland, KCNA said.

The previous floods left 400 missing and also made more than 212,000 people homeless, in addition to those killed.

The country asked the UN's World Food Programme (WFP) for emergency food aid after the floods.

The communist country cannot feed its population and relies on food aid, making any storm damage to crops a severe blow.