Rhythmism.com

By Jack Kim and Martin Nesirky

SEOUL (Reuters) - Up to 3,000 people were killed or injured when two trains loaded with fuel collided and exploded at a North Korean station Thursday, hours after leader Kim Jong-il had passed through, South Korea's YTN television said.

YTN quoted witnesses in its report while South Korea's Yonhap news agency, which spoke of widespread destruction, also said there were thousands of casualties. Neither Yonhap nor YTN gave a breakdown of deaths and injuries.

Yonhap quoted sources in the Chinese city of Dandong that borders the North as saying the explosion occurred around 1 p.m. -- nine hours after Kim's special train was reported to have passed on its way back to Pyongyang after a visit to China.

"The station was destroyed as if hit by a bombardment and debris flew high into the sky," Yonhap said, quoting the unidentified Chinese sources.

The sources said cargo trains carrying gasoline and liquefied petroleum gas collided at Ryonchon station 30 miles south of the border.

Yonhap also quoted a senior Defense Ministry official as saying the South's military -- which eavesdrops on North Korea -- had heard about the blast through "intelligence channels directed against the North."

There was no immediate suggestion the blast was anything other than an accident. But the explosion came after Kim met China's new leadership during a rare foreign visit to discuss the North's nuclear weapons plans and tentative economic reforms.

North Korea appears to have cut international telephone lines to the area to prevent information about the explosion getting out, Yonhap added. The North appears to have declared a type of emergency in the area.

"We have not yet received official information on the accident. We are trying to confirm the report," a Unification Ministry spokesman said in Seoul. Other officials at various government agencies also had no information.

Yonhap said the sources said people in Dandong were concerned their friends or relatives could have been caught up on the explosion. Traders from both sides criss-cross the border area.

A railway worker on the Chinese side of the Dandong border crossing told Reuters he had not heard of a blast and had seen no signs of any emergency effort under way.

"The closest station to here in North Korea is in Sinuiju (on the border), and I would have heard it. But I didn't hear anything," he said by telephone.

North Korea's official media broke their silence on Kim's three-day trip to Beijing Thursday -- strongly suggesting Kim was safely back in Pyongyang -- but did not mention the explosion. Kim does not travel by air when he does venture outside North Korea.

Residents in Pyongyang said by telephone there was nothing unusual in the capital. North Korean television was broadcasting military songs and music -- standard evening fare.

I guess those passengers got more bang for their buck.

hee.

3000 injured or dead, huh???

sounds like the work of someone we know. but too soon to speculate. they say it was an accident.

Invade! Kill!

..(No frills)...You're a fucktard...

just find it odd that news headers would say 3000 dead or injured....

not really, as n. korea is also anti-american... it makes no sense to consider them.


most probably an accident.

like i said...to soon to speculate. calm down.

why would al qaeda blow up something in n. korea? see my avatar.

My SODA WAS FLAT WHEN I OPENED IT UP.

Al Qaeda must be behind this.

that totally sucks

Like gag me with a spoon.

then why speculate?

you're the one who brought it up. nobody's picking on you, you're bringing it on yourself again.

It's highly unlikely that Al Q. is behind this blast. It sucks that those victims don't have access to Int'l Aid.

I really hope to visit N. Korea soon. I would imagine that it would be like northen Vietnam/Laos.

-stdg-

the guy called me a fucktard. he needs to grow up.

bringing WHAT on myself?

i blame Al Qaeda for Glauren's posts. . .

..Well, originally I was going to expand into how improbable it was that this was an attack perpetrated by terrorists, but then I figured, why waste all those words?..yano?..

..So I put (no frills) and called you a fucktard, because that was indeed my no frills answer to your blantantly fucktard fishing for a political thread complete with you (and eventually Tribal) jerking each other off about Israel...


..Again...Fucktard!...

stop babbling you child.

i wasn't fishing for anything you paranoid moron.

i was posting news. shut up already you pompous little bitch.

what a shady country that is.


no one can even verify what happened because they're so closed to the outside world.

most of the reports are coming from south korean intelligence

hear hear, enough with the name calling.

it's Friday!!!!

-stdg-

true. and even THEY don't fully know wtf is going on yet.

From The Guardian:

Many feared dead in North Korea 'blast'

Associated Press
Thursday April 22, 2004

As many as 3,000 people were killed or injured today when two trains carrying oil and liquefied petroleum gas collided and exploded in a North Korean train station, South Korean media have reported.
The explosion was said to have occurred at about 1pm local time (0500 BST) at a station in the town of Ryongchon, around 30 miles south of the Chinese border, in northern North Korea.

The North Korean leader, Kim Jong Il, was said to have passed through the station nine hours earlier on a special train on his way back to Pyongyang after a rare visit to China.

North Korea's state-run news agency confirmed that Mr Kim had travelled to China on Monday and stayed there until Wednesday, but carried no comments on the reported explosion.

South Korean officials said they were aware of the reports, but could not confirm them.

There was no immediate evidence that the reported explosion was anything more than a horrific accident.

"The area around Ryongchon station has turned into ruins, as if it were bombarded," South Korea's Yonhap news agency quoted unnamed sources in the Chinese border city of Dandong as saying.

Some of the injured were reportedly evacuated to hospitals in Dandong, a bustling industrial city on the Yalu river.

However, a railway worker on the Chinese side of the Dandong border crossing told the news agency Reuters he had not heard of a blast and had seen no signs of any emergency effort.

Yonhap said the North Korean authorities had declared a state of emergency in the area. The South Korean agency claimed the north appeared to have cut international telephone lines to the area to prevent information about the explosion getting out.

The South Korean TV station YTN said the casualties included Chinese people living in the North Korean border region, and that others, in Dandong, were desperate to learn about their relatives.

"Debris from the explosion soared high into the sky and drifted to Sinuju," a North Korean town on the border with China, it added.

Chinese and North Korean traders frequently cross the border.

Mr Kim's visit to China was understood to be to discuss the north's nuclear weapons plans and tentative economic reforms. When he goes abroad, he does not travel by air.

Residents in Pyongyang told Reuters over the telephone there was nothing unusual in the capital, and that North Korean television was broadcasting military songs and music.

The accident resembled a disaster in Iran on February 18, in which runaway train cars carrying fuel and industrial chemicals derailed in the town of Neyshabur.

The resulting explosions destroyed five villages and killed at least 200 people.

Though thursday is the first weekend day, friday it is not, methinks.

it's thursday

here's another one, but i doubt there's any connection:

Associated Press

SEOUL, South Korea — A self-proclaimed "anti-American" group is threatening to carry out terrorist attacks against diplomatic compounds, airlines and public transportation systems in eight U.S. allies, several of which have sent troops to Iraq, a South Korean official said Thursday.

The group, called the "Yello-Red Overseas Organization," warned in a one-page letter sent to the South Korean Embassy in Thailand that it will launch the attacks through April 30, embassy spokesman Ryoo Jung-young told The Associated Press.

The group described itself as "anti-American" and threatened to attack diplomatic compounds, airlines and public transportation systems in South Korea, Japan, Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore, Australia, Kuwait and Pakistan. Several of these countries have sent troops to Iraq.

Ryoo said it was the first time South Korean authorities had heard of the group and were investigating the threat's credibility. The letter was received Wednesday.

The South Korean Foreign Ministry in Seoul said it had not notified other nations on the list but that it had confirmed that the Pakistani Embassy in Bangkok had also received a similar letter, an official said on condition of anonymity. South Korean diplomatic missions worldwide were alerted to the threat.

South Korea plans to send 3,000 more troops to Iraq, which would make it the biggest coalition partner behind the United States and Britain.

The deployment, pledged earlier this year, was put on hold amid concerns it would involve combat operations in violation of a parliamentary mandate for peacekeeping.

Last week, Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said mounting violence in Iraq has prompted her government to study whether to withdraw its nearly 100 troops from the Mideast nation.

Japan and Australia, which also have troops in Iraq, have pledge to keep them there.

pssst - North Korea and South Korea are two different countries