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April 23, 2004
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Trains and secrets
3000 people dead or injured. We think. The North Koreans haven't said anything about the world's worst train disaster, ever. If media reports are true, this could be more dead than 9/11. The only information so far has only come via China's Foreign Affairs website. They may have asked for the Red Cross's help. Then again, maybe they haven't. But what was their first reaction to this catastrophe? From the Scotsman: The communist government in Pyongyang declared an emergency in the area while cutting off international telephone lines to prevent crash details from leaking out, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported. The North’s official KCNA news agency still had not mentioned the disaster by today, a full day later.That's right. Thousands dead, massive devastation. First reaction: cut the phones. The BBC has satellite photos of the explosion. It is more than a full day, more than 24 friggin' hours, and the North Koreans still haven't admitted it. Instead they're busy doing what they know best: trying to control the information. They are busy cutting phone lines. 3,000 dead, cut the phones. They may ask for help. They may eventually admit what happened. Kim Jong-Il may go buy himself a lottery ticket and thank his (undeserved) luck. They are seriously screwed up. There are some conflicting reports. From Reuters: Trains between Beijing and Pyongyang were running as normal after a train explosion in North Korea was reported to have killed or injured up to 3,000 people, station officials and diplomatic sources said on Friday. A train from Beijing arrived in Pyongyang around 7 p.m. local time (1000 GMT) on Thursday, hours after the accident reported to have occurred at 0400 GMT, a diplomat in Pyongyang told Reuters. Another train from Pyongyang pulled into Beijing Railway Station at 8:34 a.m. local time (0034 GMT) on Friday, a station official said. The Beijing-Pyongyang link goes through Ryongchon county, where trains carrying gasoline and liquefied petroleum gas are reported to have collided at the station in the town of Ryongchon. But the collision could have happened on a side track and might not have affected the trunk line. A Beijing-based businessman said his contacts in Pyongyang indicated the scale of devastation was not as bad as reported in foreign media. "My lot in Pyongyang are saying it's all right," said the businessman, who asked not to be identified. "I'm saying 'can we travel in by train?' And they're saying 'yes'."That said there are other reports to the contrary. Also from Reuters: Its [North Korea's] official media made no mention of the disaster. Instead, according to the state news agency, Pyongyang newspapers were full of reports on Kim's China visit, fulsome tributes to his father, state founder Kim Il-sung, who died in 1994 and an item noting the closure of a festival devoted to the hybrid Kimilsungia flower, named after the elder Kim.Here's the problem. When it comes to North Korea, no one the hell knows what is true or not. They have nuclear weapons. Now you know why so many people are worried about the place. They are the greatest threat to world peace, bar none. posted by Simon on 04.23.04 at 03:45 PM in the
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Comments:
It stuns me, really. I was at the gym last night when this story broke, and on the TVs there all we had were some confused looking folk on the newscast. "This just in...something may have happened in Korea....or maybe not." They showed reports of a Korean newscaster, looking perfectly orange due to NTSC, and she was saying (translated into English): "This just in...something may have happened....or maybe not." posted by: Helen on 04.23.04 at 04:48 PM [permalink]North Korea not admitting this incident on the news is much like the Russian government's handling of Chernobyl where the accident still wasn't being talked about on the news 10 days after it happened. This girl's motorcycle tour and history of the Chernobyl accident is definitely worth the read! http://www.angelfire.com/extreme4/kiddofspeed/ posted by: Paul on 04.23.04 at 09:35 PM [permalink] |
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