On this occasion, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) set "Weather-ready, climate-smart" as the theme for this year and advanced it as one of the top priorities of the WMO and National Meteorological and Hydrological Services to protect lives, livelihoods and property from the risks related to weather, climate and water events.

When interviewed by KCNA, Pang Sun Nyo, section chief of the State Hydro-meteorological Administration of the DPRK, said:

In recent years, the DPRK has witnessed extreme phenomena like temperature rise, heavy rain and drought caused by the global warming. To cope with abnormal meteorological phenomena, it has steadily carried out the project to put weather and flood forecasts on an IT basis.

The administration has pressed ahead with such projects for putting all the processes of meteorological sector on an IT basis as making real-time observation through the expansion of automatic meteorological observation network and applying scientific methods to forecasts for small and medium meteorological phenomena and weather changes.

Efforts have also been paid to regularly observe climate, floodgate conditions, etc. and promptly inform agriculture, transport and other sectors of the observations in order to help them take due measures.

The State Hydro-meteorological Administration of the DPRK will strive to put the country's hydro-meteorological services on a higher IT basis and strengthen the international cooperation and collaboration with the WMO.