Pyongyang cheers returning typhoon workers

Footage filmed by North Korea's state media KCNA, which could not be verified by Reuters, showed the residents waving and cheering as trains carrying party members arriving Pyongyang railway station and buses drove past the streets.

The footage also showed a large number of members attending a welcome ceremony in front of Kumsusan Palace of the Sun where the embalmed bodies of former North Korean leaders lie.

In September, leader Kim Jong Un sent an open letter to party members in the capital noting that this year has witnessed "uncommon difficulties due to the protracted worldwide public health crisis" and natural disasters. It added that the Party Central Committee decided to dispatch 12,000 party members from Pyongyang to the typhoon-hit areas to help communities recover.

KCNA has reported that more than 1,000 houses were destroyed in coastal areas of South and North Hamgyong provinces and reported that farmland and some public buildings had been inundated.