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Aid workers tell of destruction in North Korea
Indystar ^ | April 25, 2004 | Associated Press

Posted on 04/25/2004 1:31:19 AM PDT by yonif

Edited on 05/07/2004 6:27:11 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]

DANDONG, China -- Aid workers allowed into secretive North Korea on Saturday described a ring of devastation around last week's massive train explosion and said 76 of the 154 people confirmed dead were children in a school destroyed by the blast.


(Excerpt) Read more at indystar.com ...


TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: aidworkers; humanitarianrelief; nktrainwreck; northkorea; redcross
Israeli media report the deaths are now at least 161.
1 posted on 04/25/2004 1:31:19 AM PDT by yonif
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To: yonif
yonif, I picked up this new item from www.freenorthkorea.net. Would you be able to look into it and provide us with more details?

New Israeli Organization Founded to fight for human rights in North Korea, plans event for April 28

This is from nkfreedom.org

There is a demonstration in front of the South Korean Embassy in Tel Aviv on April 28, 2004 its sponsored by the Israeli-Jewish Committee against Gas Chambers in North Korea

I don't speak Hebrew, so I can't read the home page, but for those who can, please visit

http://www.korea-lo-lishtok.com/index.aspx

2 posted on 04/25/2004 1:46:14 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
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To: TigerLikesRooster
Yup. I have seen that site. It is talked about in Israeli news forums. Their main campaign is talking about how Israel should be the first to condemn North Korea for the genocide there, because of the Holocaust the Jews in Israel experienced. On this site it talks about wanting Israel to use its diplomatic voice to lead an effort into stopping this murder in North Korea. On Holocaust day they had a rally and now, as you say, they will be having another one. This site also lists articles and other editorials about the situation. The slogan on the top of the page says: "In North Korea they murder political prisoners and their families in gas chambers."

During their first rally, they gave a petition with 2500 signatures to the Asia desk at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Israel after meeting with an official there in Jerusalem. Now online they already have 6000 signatures.

They also make available documents you can fax to Israeli officials.

3 posted on 04/25/2004 1:55:23 AM PDT by yonif ("So perish all Thine enemies, O the Lord" - Judges 5:31)
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To: yonif
Re #3

Thanks a lot. That really helps. I think that the story about N. Korean gas chambers for chemical weapon testing really galvanized Jewish public opinions.

4 posted on 04/25/2004 2:09:17 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
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To: yonif
In polish TV I heard it may be even 3000 deaths.
5 posted on 04/25/2004 2:28:29 AM PDT by Grzegorz 246
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To: Grzegorz 246
Re #5

Casualty numbers keep changing. At first, the total number of dead and wounded was reportedly about 3,000. Then, the first official number of the dead was 50+. The next was 150+. Then the estimate of number of the dead was again raised up to several hundred. Some sources quoted in news reports now say that the number of dead could exceed 1,000.

There are many reported pictures of the blast site taken by foreign aid workers. However, there are no picture of victims themselves, dead or wounded. They were already taken out from the site. The access to the wounded would be held up for a few days, according to foreign aid workers.

6 posted on 04/25/2004 2:54:23 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
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To: yonif

Explosion crater: 129 public buildings damaged or destroyed. Click for more images.

"Spiegel-Online" reports that 40% of Ryongchon is destroyed and that up to 10,000 are homeless. Half of the 161 dead are schoolchildren from the elementary school that was almost completely destroyed. Devastation and damage is evident in a 4 KM (2.4 miles) radius. In the vicinity of the blast, 129 buildings are damged or completly destroyed. Chinese eyewitnesses on the other side of the border 20 KM away saw a mushroom shaped cloud and thought it was an atomic explosion.

The report says the accident was attributed to negligence and human failure. Two paragraphs in the article mention that the accident occured during shunting. Another sentance in one of the paragraphs sources Xinhua as saying an overhead power line fell on a car carrying oil after two freight trains collided. The burning oil ignited other cars loaded with ammonium nitrate.

"Spiegel" laments on the point that North Korea, in spite of the tragedy, is still spewing it's Anti-US rhetoric. In this case, claiming that the withdrawal of troops from the DMZ is proof that an invasion is imminent,."Spiegel" also says that the NK government isn't telling their citizenry about the extent of the explosion, and that they are not allowing much foreign help in.

....10.000 Obdachlose und kaum ein Wort

longjack

7 posted on 04/25/2004 3:30:11 AM PDT by longjack
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To: yonif
N. Korea:Aid Workers Rush to N. Korean Train Site(15 fresh pictures of the blast site)4-24-04


These are new.

A woman walks past a pile of rubble after a catastrophic explosion at the railway station in Ryongchon, North Korea (news - web sites), in this undated handout photograph. China sent supplies across the border into North Korea on Sunday in the first aid shipment to the secretive communist state since a huge train blast killed 161 people and injured hundreds more.

North Koreans walk past a pile of rubble after a catastrophic explosion at the railway station in Ryongchon, North Korea (news - web sites), in this undated handout photograph. China sent supplies across the border into North Korea on Sunday in the first aid shipment to the secretive communist state since a huge train blast killed 161 people and injured hundreds more.

(That's a big hole)

People stand near where the Ryongchong train station was before an explosion destroyed it in Ryongchon, North Korea (news - web sites), Saturday, April 24, 2004. North Korean officials said Thursday's devastating train explosion killed at least 154 people, about half of them children in a school torn apart by the blast. (AP Photo/World Food Program, Jacob Kern)

North Koreans look at a crater after a catastrophic explosion at the railway station in Ryongchon, North Korea (news - web sites), in this undated handout photograph. China sent supplies across the border into North Korea on Sunday in the first aid shipment to the secretive communist state since a huge train blast killed 161 people and injured hundreds more.

8 posted on 04/25/2004 6:28:49 AM PDT by OXENinFLA
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To: yonif
For the younger militant communists, they need to take a look at this scene and see what their country will look like if they decide they want war.
9 posted on 04/25/2004 6:31:40 AM PDT by cynicom
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To: Grzegorz 246; TigerLikesRooster; AmericanInTokyo
People stand in the rubbles of houses following a train explosion in Ryongchon, North Korea (news - web sites), Saturday, April 24, 2004. North Korean officials said the devastating train explosion killed at least 154 people, about half of them children in a school torn apart by the blast. (AP Photo/World Food Program, Jacob Kern)

People stand in the rubbles following a train explosion in Ryongchon, North Korea (news - web sites), Saturday, April 24, 2004. North Korean officials said the devastating train explosion killed at least 154 people, about half of them children in a school torn apart by the blast. (AP Photo/World Food Program, Jacob Kern)

Foreign aid workers look at damaged trains at the railway station in Ryongchon, North Korea (news - web sites), after a catastrophic explosion, April 24, 2004. At least 154 people, including 76 students, were killed and more than 1,300 people were injured in the blast at the railway station in the town of Ryongchon near the Chinese border on April 22, China's Xinhua news agency said, quoting a senior rescue official. Picture taken April 24, 2004. REUTERS/World Food Programme/Jakob Kern

10 posted on 04/25/2004 6:34:02 AM PDT by OXENinFLA
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To: yonif
Look at those photos. They're lucky if its less than 161,000 dead.
11 posted on 04/25/2004 6:47:15 AM PDT by dsc
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To: OXENinFLA
Jiminy! That is the biggest crater made by chemical explosives I've ever seen. Maybe the Port Chicago blast (an ammunition ship) would be bigger. Fairly hard to believe this wasn't an attempt to blow up Kim Jong-Il's train.
12 posted on 04/25/2004 8:02:03 AM PDT by eno_ (Freedom Lite - it's almost worth defending)
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To: eno_
"Maybe the Port Chicago blast (an ammunition ship) would be bigger."

The blast caused a crater 66 feet deep, 300 feet wide and 700 feet long in the river bottom.

http://www.cccoe.k12.ca.us/pc/the_explosion.htm

Of course, the soil of the river bottom would be considerably softer than that under the railway in NK.

When I was riding AEs in the 80s, we used to tie up there for loading. Signs of the damage were still visible.
13 posted on 04/25/2004 5:34:41 PM PDT by dsc
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To: OXENinFLA
Photo of the school books and satchels left behind by some of the hundreds of kids killed in the blast, at the elementary school:


14 posted on 04/26/2004 2:01:58 PM PDT by AmericanInTokyo (Hey...who stole my tag line earlier today? Give it back!!)
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To: AmericanInTokyo
odd that if the kids were killed that the bags are not in a worse condition.
15 posted on 04/26/2004 2:04:43 PM PDT by AmericanInTokyo (Hey...who stole my tag line earlier today? Give it back!!)
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To: AmericanInTokyo
Blast was the killing effect, bodies are more susceptible than backpacks.
16 posted on 04/26/2004 5:47:53 PM PDT by xone
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