The Red Cross reported that at least 100 people were either dead or missing in the impoverished North, where a further 9,000 had been left homeless by the rains.

"In some remote areas, whole villages have been swept away and essential public services, such as health care clinics, have been destroyed," Jaap Timmer, the head of North Korean operations at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said in Geneva.

Over the heavily-militarised border in South Korea, the disaster agency said the monsoon rains had pounded the north and east for a fifth straight day and had left 19 people dead and 31 missing.

Most of the victims came from the mountainous eastern province of Gangwon, where 17 were killed in landslides or flash floods, said the National Emergency Management Agency.

More than 550 millimeters (21.6 inches) of rain have fallen there since Friday, according to the agency.

There was little official word on casualties or damage from the authorities in the reclusive North and the Red Cross said communications networks had been severely disrupted making it difficult to collect reliable information.

"There has also been widespread damage to roads and bridges, which has left many people displaced or stranded," Timmer said in a statement.

A typhoon, which struck last Friday, totally or partially destroyed more than 11,500 houses, the Red Cross said.

It also destroyed out vast swathes of farmland, a major blow for the secretive communist nation which has long relied on international food handouts after failed harvests.

The North Korean Red Cross had mobilised more than 2,300 volunteers to provide first aid and rescue and evacuation support in affected provinces, the aid group said.

It had also sent blankets, kitchen sets, plastic sheeting, water containers and water purification tablets to almost 10,000 families whose homes were completely destroyed in South Pyongan, North Hwanghe and Kangwon provinces.

Meanwhile, South Korea's President Roh Moo-Hyun had designated 18 cities and counties as special disaster areas where victims could receive state-organized special loans, subsidies and tax breaks, the disaster agency.

The special disaster areas covered seven places in the Gangwon province and 11 elsewhere, including some southern towns hit by typhoon Ewiniar last week and heavy rain more recently, the agency said.

It warned there could be more flood victims with casualty reports still coming in. Relief efforts continued with more than 3,700 people remaining homeless as of early Tuesday, it said.

The downpour has flooded homes, swept away roads and inundated farmland and villages. Tens of thousands of residents were also left without power.

Police, military and disaster agencies have evacuated victims to schools and other safer areas while airlifting relief to flooded areas.

In the capital Seoul, some of the once submerged and closed riverside expressways and roads were partially opened for traffic again Tuesday morning as the rain front was moving southward.

Heavy rains were expected to fall on the Korean peninsula for another few days.

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A world of storm and tempest