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North Korean Security Believes Ryongchon Explosion an Assassination Attempt(Cellphones now banned)
Chosun Ilbo ^ | 05/24/04 | Kang Chol-hwan

Posted on 05/25/2004 7:29:57 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster

North Korean Security Believes Ryongchon Explosion an Assassination Attempt

According to a source, North Korea's State Safety & Security Agency concluded that the massive explosion that occurred in the North Korean city of Ryongchon on April 22 had been conspired by anti-North Korean government forces to harm North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. A North Korean official who was recently on his business trip to China said, “The North Korean National Security Agency has investigated the incident since it took place and concluded that rebellious forces had plotted the explosions targeting the exclusive train of Kim Jong-il. The security agency, in particular, gained evidence that cell phones had been used in triggering the explosion and reported to the North Korean leader that the use of cell phones should be banned for the sake of the leader’s safety, the official said.

Accordingly, it was learned that North Korea prohibited the use of cell phones across the nation on May 19.

An officer working with a North Korean border guard unit, which is in charge of guarding the border area between the North and China, said in a phone call with this writer that the use of cell phones was banned in Pyongyang first on May 19, and then prohibited in other regions on May 20.

A North Korea defector who crossed the border a few days ago said, “It doesn’t seem to be a temporary measure, because even handsets have been conscripted following the cell phone use ban.” “The Postal Service, which manages the cell phone business, has unilaterally conscripted handsets without offering any compensations. It's a typical example of a dictatorial state,” the defector pointed out.

North Korea began to use European-type GSM phones in August 2002 and started cell phone service in Najin and Sunbong, the North Korean special economic areas, starting November that year. However, in areas bordering China, an increasing number of North Korean people have already used cell phones with handsets made in China since the end of 1990s.


TOPICS: Breaking News; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: assassination; attempt; boom; canyouhearmenow; cellphonejihad; cellphones; explosion; kimjongchol; kimjongil; nkorea; nktrainwreck; northkorea; poisonedchopsticks; ryongchon
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To: TigerLikesRooster
D*mn! I am really sorry that they missed.

Are we sure they did? Has 'Dear Leader' been seen in public since the explosion?

21 posted on 05/25/2004 7:52:16 AM PDT by SuziQ
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To: Semper Paratus

If Dear Leader becomes convinced that cell phones were part of plot against him expect to see cell phone users in reeducation camps soon.


22 posted on 05/25/2004 7:52:53 AM PDT by nomorelurker (wetraginhell)
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To: NYFriend

Can a cellphone be used to detonate an explosive if there are no cellsites nearby? One cellphone cannot call another cellphone directly, it must go through a cellsite, and router.


23 posted on 05/25/2004 7:54:30 AM PDT by NeonKnight
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To: SuziQ
Re #21

Yes, he is alive. This is a picture taken on May 22, 2004


24 posted on 05/25/2004 7:56:13 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
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To: TigerLikesRooster
Assasination attempt?

Perhaps it was just coincedental that Syrian {WMD?}engineers were killed and wounded in the blast.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1131329/posts

25 posted on 05/25/2004 7:56:26 AM PDT by TeleStraightShooter (Kerry{D-Hanoi} plans to apply post-Vietnam policy to Iraq: Exit & let the Syrian Baathists take over)
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To: TigerLikesRooster

Who's next in line if the "Dear Leader" suddenly goes to join the choir infernal? Has he been grooming an heir as his father groomed him? And more importantly, does the heir apparent have a cell phone?


26 posted on 05/25/2004 8:02:46 AM PDT by marshmallow
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To: TigerLikesRooster
I've never heard any hint of an organization that wants to bring down the government but I had read a story (maybe here I don't remember where) that several Syrians were killed in the explosion and the train was moving SCUD parts. Sounds like this is just cover with the added benefit of a good excuse to round up the cell phones.
27 posted on 05/25/2004 8:02:47 AM PDT by Dinger
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To: TigerLikesRooster

They wouldn't have to "conscript" or confiscate the handsets, just turn off the towers. Cell phones always communicate via the a near by tower. Two cell phones a block away won't communicate if there is no tower. (How could they bill you?)


28 posted on 05/25/2004 8:02:50 AM PDT by Lonesome in Massachussets (Uday and Qusay are ead-day)
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To: TigerLikesRooster
Another possibility is that this was not an assassination attempt, but that the allegation of one is being used as a pretext for a purge.
29 posted on 05/25/2004 8:03:35 AM PDT by Physicist
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To: TeleStraightShooter
Re #25

If this news is indeed true, dead Syrians and the destruction of their cargoes could have been the consolation prizes of sorts. Or was it planned as a two-for-one deal?:)

30 posted on 05/25/2004 8:04:06 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
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To: Lonesome in Massachussets
But "Dear Leader" and his toadies are still using the cell phones, I'll bet, not to mention the military.
31 posted on 05/25/2004 8:04:49 AM PDT by Physicist
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To: Lonesome in Massachussets
Re #28

Ryongchon is pretty close to China. In this border area, you can use a Chinese cell phone, which uses towers in China across the border. N. Koreans cannot turn off Chinese towers. An important fact to be noted.

32 posted on 05/25/2004 8:07:50 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
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To: TigerLikesRooster

Now this brings up another thought. If the killers in Iraq are using cell phones to trigger roadside bombs, why don't we commandeer the cell phone system and shut down the towers along the routes when we are moving?


33 posted on 05/25/2004 8:11:38 AM PDT by Flint
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To: Dark Wing

buffing nails ...


34 posted on 05/25/2004 8:12:54 AM PDT by Thud
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To: TigerLikesRooster
I had an interesting lunch about 10 days with someone fairly in the know (ROK side). He mentioned this is the current rumour. He also placed Fat Chia Bastard at the scene much more closer to the hour of the explosion, rather than the 10-12 hours of separation widely reported.

He also said that Chungguk may be involved, if it were indeed a termination plot (even that is still unconfirmed). They may have aligned with disgruntled DPRK forces within. But hard to say.

35 posted on 05/25/2004 8:13:30 AM PDT by AmericanInTokyo (***Since The Iraq War & Transition Period Began, NORTH KOREA HAS MANUFACTURED (8) NUCLEAR WEAPONS***)
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To: marshmallow
Re #26

There is a move to install Kim Jong-il's second son, Kim Jong-chol, as the successor while brushing aside the first son, Kim Jong-nam. Kim Jong-nam has not been allowed to return home for quite a while.

36 posted on 05/25/2004 8:16:00 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
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To: Dinger

Exactly my thoughts.


37 posted on 05/25/2004 8:16:00 AM PDT by Cobra Scott
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To: TigerLikesRooster

So they got too near a gas pump, or what. How do cell phones work without towers, and why bother banning the phones when you can just turn off the service?


38 posted on 05/25/2004 8:16:13 AM PDT by js1138 (In a minute there is time, for decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse. J Forbes Kerry)
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To: TigerLikesRooster
Wow they banned both phones!! better tell the verizon guy before he strolls through.
39 posted on 05/25/2004 8:18:02 AM PDT by rod1 (On the front line)
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To: AmericanInTokyo
Re #35

That is the persistent rumor coming out of China. If true, Chia Head is being squeezed by both America and China, that is, both from the South and the North. That is the untenable position for Chia Head.

40 posted on 05/25/2004 8:20:23 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
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