North Korea girl dies saving Kim portraits

North Korean officials have posthumously honoured a 14-year-old girl who drowned in a flood while trying to save portraits of leaders Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il, RIA Novosti reported.

Han Hyon-Gyong, a schoolgirl from the eastern province of South Hamkyong, died June 11 as she tried to take the portraits out of her flooded home, the Rodong Sinmun newspaper said on its website.

The paper said Han's parents and school teachers also received awards.The daily hailed the regime "that nurtures such children", and also mentioned a farmer whose wife and children were killed in a landslide in 2007 while he was saving portraits of the Kims.