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 ...
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
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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
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