Seoul , South Korea ( CNN ) -- North Korea has said that Typhoon Bolaven , a powerful tropical cyclone that pounded the Korean Peninsula last week , killed 48 people in the country and left more than 21,000 homeless . The storm also injured more than 50 people and destroyed tens of thousands of hectares of crops , according to a report published Monday evening by the state-run Korean Central News Agency ( KCNA ) . The secretive , militaristic North Korean regime has repeatedly asked for food aid from international aid organizations as it struggles to feed its own people after suffering extensive famines during the 1990s . Employees from humanitarian groups that operate inside North Korea have described severe malnourishment on a large scale . A deal earlier this year for the United States to ship food aid to the country fell apart after the authoritarian regime in Pyongyang went ahead with a controversial rocket launch . North Korea already experienced widespread devastation in late July from heavy rains and flooding . KCNA said the extreme weather resulted in the deaths of at least 169 people and left more than 200,000 homeless . The United Nations World Food Program called it an emergency and organized for emergency food aid to be delivered . North Korea then took the unusual step of releasing footage of the devastated areas , showing houses submerged and farmlands destroyed . The damage caused by Bolaven last week has now added to the woes of the North Korean population . The storm also resulted in at least 15 deaths and widespread disruption in South Korea as it swept up the side of the Korean Peninsula . CNN 's K.J . Kwon contributed to this report .
The storm destroyed tens of thousands of hectares of crops , North Korea says . The reclusive regime already struggles to feed its people . The U.N. organized emergency food aid for the country last month after flooding . Typhoon Bolaven also killed at least 15 people in South Korea .