S. Korea: Iri Station Explosion in '77(A parallel to Explosion in Ryongchon, N.K.)

Around 9:15pm on Nov. 11, 1977, 30 tons of dynamite(1,214 boxes) and 280kg of detonators(36 boxes) went off in a huge explosion, which were in the 11th box car of the freight train No. 1,011. It was parked at the 4th track in Iri Train Station located at 2nd St., Chang-in Dong, Iri City, N. Cholla Province(, S. Korea) (my note: the train was a munition transport train for the military.) As of afternoon of Nov. 12, 51 were killed and 1,215 were wounded, resulting in the worst explosion accident to date. Of the total of 13,362 buildings in Iri, 9,530 of them were destroyed(total destruction:675, half destruction:1,289, smashed windows:7,566.)

The worst train explosion accident in S. Korean history may be of the similar magnitude to the disaster in Ryongchon, N. Korea. It is now reported in some news article that explosives(dynamites) were also involved in Ryongchon accident, just as in this S. Korean disaster 27 years ago. At the time, it was ruled as an accident. However, there has been a persistent rumor that this was actually the work of N. Korean sabotage which was covered up.


Ha Chun-hwa	Lee Joo-il

There was an interesting twist of fortune this disaster brought about. Lee Joo-il(the second photo on the left), a struggling comedian barely getting by doing bits part during intermissions between performaces of big stars, got an unexpected huge break. Ha Chun-hwa(the first photo on the left,) a popular female singer at the time, was doing her show in a theater near the blast site at the time while Mr. Lee was doing his usual bit parts in-between. Then the explosion struck. The theater collapsed. Both Ms. Ha and Mr. Lee were badly injured. However, Ms. Ha was critical. Ever being a nice guy as he was, he pulled himself out and carried her on his back to the nearby hospital, single-handedly snatching her out of the jaw of death. Feeling forever indebted, she pulled all the strings she can muster in the entertainment industry to secure him a spot in national TV. Thanks to that, he had a huge break and went on to become one of the most popular entertainers in 80's and 90's until his death in 2002, due to lung cancer. Without the deadly incident, he may have never made it to the national lime light.

Reuters update:

[snip] ...

North Korean officials said railworkers were trying to uncouple two carriages carrying dynamite and link them to another train.

"They got caught in the overhead electric wiring. The dynamite exploded and that was the cause of the explosion," O'Mahony said.

Russia's Tass news agency reported from Pyongyang that the explosives were to be used to build an irrigation canal... [snip]

Thanks again. Don't know if you've seen this post on NK zone: http://nkzone.typepad.com/

1 Some info emerges, conspiracy theories swirl
China's state-run Xinhua news agency reports from Pyongyang that the train explosion in Ryongchong "was caused by the leaking of ammonium nitrate in one of the trains."

2 Chinese were killed and 12 were injured in the blast. Xinhua also reports that China has offered assistance. So has South Korea. A North Korean Red Cross team is on its way to the area but it's unclear whether Chinese or South Korean aid will be accepted.

The South Korean Digital Chosun Ilbo has a Chinese eyewitness account and more South Korean analysis.

The Beijing-based head of an international aid agency tells NKzone that aid workers in nearby Sinuju did not hear any blast and have been allowed to conduct their routine monitoring of aid distribution. He also says that phone service for his organization's aid workers in Pyongyang and Sinuju was not cut off. This contradicts earlier reports from South Korea that international telephone service was cut off after the blast.

NKzone has spoken with a Chinese source in Beijing who confirms South Korean media reports that the exploded train was a Chinese gift-train loaded with fuel.

More controversially, this source - who is generally quite reliable - tells NKzone that at least some high-ranking officers in the Chinese military believe the blast was the result of a foiled assasination attempt by anti-reform generals in North Korea. This is despite the fact that all the news reports from China and South Korea are describing an accident.

I argued with my source that this "foul play" theory sounded pretty far-fetched, given that Kim's security people would not have allowed another train - especially a fuel train - to come any where near Kim's train. As my former CNN colleague rightly points out, all other train traffic would routinely have been held up for several hours before and after Kim's train passed through the station. The response from my source was: "The power struggle in North Korea has gotten very complicated."

My Chinese source emphasizes that an attempt on Kim's life is not in China's interest. If successful, such an act would leave China to deal with the chaos of a collapsed neighbor - with nuclear weapons (or at least nuclear weapons material) floating about under god-knows-whose control.

If this "foul play" story were true, we would expect to hear about a shakeup in North Korea's government and military ranks over the coming days. But then again, a disaster of this magnitude might be a good excuse for Kim to get rid of his enemies even if there wasn't any foul play. So we may never really know.

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