By Kim Young-jin

Concern is rising over the possibility of flooding in North Korea amid reports that this year's seasonal rain front could be more intense, the head of a coalition of local aid groups said.

Torrential summer rainfall a year ago caused rivers along the border with China to flood over, causing massive agricultural damage and leaving thousands homeless.

"We are greatly concerned about reports that extreme monsoons could affect the North this year," Park Hyun-seok, secretary-general of the Korea NGO Council for Cooperation with North Korea (KNCCNK). The coalition is comprised of dozens of groups, some of which are approved to send small amounts of aid northward.

"Despite annual construction projects and rebuilding of river controls to prevent floods, the dams continue to collapse each year due to the poor quality of the cement they use," Park said. "As a result, areas with inadequate financial support are likely to suffer more damage during the season."

Their concern comes amid projections by the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) that the rain front that hits the peninsula this time of year could bring more rainfall than usual. The South was soaked by heavy rains this week and the North has already experienced more rainfall than usual.

"The seasonal rain front could last longer than usual," Jung Hyun-sook, director of the KMA's Korean Peninsula weather and climate team said.

Many suspect that global warming has impacted the intensity of the seasonal rain front known as "jangma." Normally ending around mid-July, Jung said this year's front could hover on the peninsula until around the end of the month.

Last July, the North's state media reported severe flooding mostly around the border with China that left thousands homeless and wiped out over 35,000 acres of farmland. The damage spurred the Lee administration to mobilize rare aid including rice during a brief respite of tensions. Those shipments were later halted due to Pyongyang's shelling of Yeonpyeong Island. In 2007, some 600 were killed by the worst flooding in decades.

Park said the groups were ready to mobilize aid and if needed would target poorer areas likely to be affected by natural disaster. A handful of the groups have currently sent assistance after Seoul lifted a ban imposed to counter the North's provocative behavior.

The communist state has relied on outside handouts since natural disaster and mismanagement in the 1990s brought on a famine that wiped out as many as 2 million people.

The U.N. says a quarter of the North's population is in need of emergency food aid.