The Marmot’s Hole

UPDATE V: Interesting cartoon on the disaster from the Chosun Ilbo. The Hankyoreh, BTW, writes in an editorial (translated with both speed and precision by the Oranckay):

The various incidents and accidents that take place in North Korea do not reach the outside world very often, and that only furthers the mystery. It is already a closed society to begin with, but its desire to hide what it holds to be shameful has frequently created unnecessary misunderstanding. Particularly with unfortunate events such as this one, it would be doing the right thing to let what has happened be known and appeal for assistance, instead of trying to hide it.

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UPDATE IV: Oranckay’s very own History of North Korean Train Disasters — MUST READ!!!

Also interesting, the Beeb has some more possible explanations as to what the heck happened. While the North Korean government has yet to officially announce that a disaster has in fact taken place, North Korean government officials are quoted as saying the blast “was triggered when two train carriages carrying dynamite came into contact with a live power cable.” I’m no scientist, but dynamite and live power cables don’t seem like they’d go together well.

Also, Irish aid workers in Pyongyang have been told that at least 150 people are dead. Foreign officials will be invited to the disaster site tomorrow, apparently.

As mentioned before, the North Koreans — despite encouragement from the Chosun Ilbo — have yet to officially say that anything happened, and while Pyongyang has apparently asked the Red Cross for help, it has yet to take up Seoul on its offers to assist the North in coping with this disaster that, officially, didn’t happen yet.

In case you were wondering what the North Korean press was talking about today (hint: it wasn’t the train explosion), check out the Beeb’s “N Korea maintains media silence.” Here’s what the first 30 minutes of today’s 8:00 p.m. North Korean news broadcast consisted of:

• Report on the visit to China on 19-21 April by “Great Leader Comrade Kim Jong-il”

• Full text of Chinese President Hu Jintao’s speech delivered at a banquet he hosted to welcome Kim Jong-il.
• Full text of Kim Jong-il’s speech delivered at the banquet.
• Full text of the message sent by Kim Jong-il to Hu Jintao while passing back across the border after completing his visit.
• Song about General Kim Jong-il.

In fairness to the North Koreans, they’re hardly the only communist society that has proved more than a little reluctant to divulge information when things go bad. China, apparently, is remarkably tight-lipped about things like this — when a Chinese rocket flattened much of the town of Xichang in 1996, it took Beijing two weeks to acknowledge what happened, and even then they lied about the casualties. And then there were the Soviets — bless their godless commie souls — and the trouble one had in trying to get news of mishaps that happened in their country.

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UPDATE III: More info (and some conspiracy theory stuff) over at NKzone.

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UPDATE II: Yangban and Infidel discuss various elements of this disaster.

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UPDATE I: AP (via Yonhap, via the Chosun Ilbo) is citing a Red Cross official as saying at least 54 are dead and 1,249 wounded as a result of the explosion.

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NKZone has some excellent satellite photos taken of Ryongchon before the explosion — notice how residential structures are clustered around the train station. Needless to say, that’s not good, especially since Yonhap (via OhMyNews) is quoting Chinese sources as saying that everything within a 500m radius of the station has been flattened. NKzone also has satellite pics (from the BBC) taken 12~18 hours following the incident — you can’t see much except a big plume of smoke. Yonhap also says there was a school and several four and five-story apartment building within that radius, so rumors that the casualties run in the thousands (including perhaps 500 people in the station and on the trains themselves) may very well be true. Chinese sources also claim that the area influences by the blast is about 4km, and more than 700 victims have been evacuated to hospitals in Shinuiju. There are also claims that some of the wounded have been taken to hospitals in Dandong, China, but this has yet to be confirmed. Sources also say that ambulances and medical supplies have been sent to Dandong.

Interestingly enough, there is talk that the incident occurred while North Korea was trying to restart normal rail traffic following Kim’s trip to China — as you know, when the Dear Leader is on the rail, no one else is. Oh, it should be pointed out that while the Chinese in Dandong seem to be quite talkative, the North Koreans living in that town are keeping their mouths shut.

Yonhap is also quoting a report from China’s Xinhua News that, in turn, quotes the Chinese Embassy in Pyongyang as saying the cause of the blast was an ammonium nitrate leak from a car of one of the trains.

More later…