More on N. Korea Ryongchon train explosion
There are two interesting updates to this story at Glen Reynolds'
Instapundit.
The explosion (blogged
here,
here and
here) occurred in a large train station and killed several hundred people and injured over 1,000.
The first update from the
World Tribune says that Syrian Military equipment was involved:
bq. Syrian technicians accompanying unknown equipment were killed in the train explosion in North Korea on April 22, according to a report in a Japanese newspaper.
bq. A military specialist on Korean affairs revealed that the Syrian technicians were killed in the explosion in Ryongchon in the northwestern part of the country, according to the Sankei Shimbun. The specialist said the Syrians were accompanying "large equipment" and that the damage from the explosion was greatest in the portion of the train they occupied.
bq. The source said North Korean military personnel with protective suits responded to the scene soon after the explosion and removed material only from the Syrians' section of the train.
The second update comes from the
Chosun Ilbo news service:
bq. Japan's Kyodo News, citing numerous diplomatic sources in Vienna, reported Saturday that the force of April 22's train explosion at the North's Ryonchon Station was about that of an earthquake measuring 3.6 on the Richter scale, which would have required about 800 tons of TNT -- about eight times that officially announced by North Korea.
bq. The sources referred to earthquake figures gotten by the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization.
bq. The North's official Korean Central News Agency had previously reported that the destructive power of the blast was that of 100 tons of dynamite, and explained that the accident was caused by "the electrical contact caused by carelessness during the shunting of wagons loaded with ammonium nitrate fertilizer and tank wagons".
bq. The CTBTO feels that the cause of the explosion may differ from the North's explanation, and noted the explosion might have been caused by highly-explosive materials like military-use fuel going off. Officials at the CTBTO plan to look into the causes of the accident.
Very interesting -- the part about the North Korean military personel in protective suits makes me think that these were missiles and that they were shipping the fuel along with the missiles. Bad combination... And some people still wonder where Saddam's WMDs went to.
Posted by DaveH at May 17, 2004 9:13 AM