The government's National Disaster Prevention and Countermeasures Headquarters said at least 88 people were killed and 70 missing in flash floods and landslides caused by Typhoon Rusa over the weekend.

Authorities were trying to confirm reports by relatives and villagers that another 29 people were swept away by floodwaters or buried in landslides.

Local media gave higher death tolls ranging from 132 to 187.

Also, North Korean media reported "scores of people" were killed there by the storm.

Two Marines missing

Before landing on South Korea, the typhoon brushed Okinawa, Japan, pulling two U.S. Marines under waves on Friday. The missing Marines were presumed dead, Japan Coast Guard official Masayoshi Iranima said today.

U.S. Marines media officer Brad Gordon said today a search-and-recovery operation was under way for the Marines, identified earlier as Lance Cpl. Richard Moore, 24, and Lance Cpl. Beatriz Rodriguez, 20. Their hometowns were not given.

Okinawa, about 1,000 miles southwest of Tokyo, is home to more than half the 47,000 U.S. troops stationed in Japan.

Rusa, the Malaysian word for deer, was the most powerful typhoon to hit South Korea since Sarah in 1959, which left more than 840 people dead or missing.

North Korea reported that the typhoon killed "scores of people" and destroyed houses, railways, roads and bridges. Up to 2 feet of rain fell in parts of Kangwon and Hwanhae provinces, said a report by the North's Korean Central News Agency, monitored in Seoul.

"A large area of farmland went under water or was washed away, making it hard to expect any harvest of crops from there," the report said.

Since 1995, North Korea has depended on outside help to feed its 22 million people. Last month, the U.N. World Food Program said it may have to stop distributing food to starving North Koreans because of a shortage of donations.