N. Korea: Former N.K. rail chief executed over 2004 train station blast: official

SEOUL, April 4 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has executed a former cabinet minister in charge of railways over the deadly explosion of a train station near the border with China in 2004, an official in Seoul said Monday, the latest reported execution of a senior North Korean official.

The government official confirmed the execution of former Railways Minister Kim Yong-sam, noting it was apparently related to the explosion of Ryongchon Station in the North's rural northwestern area.

The official asked not to be identified because of the issue's sensitivity and did not give a time frame of Kim's death and other details.

The blast occurred several hours after North Korean leader Kim Jong-il passed through the station after a surprise trip from China, fueling speculation that the incident may have been an assassination attempt on Kim by his opponents.

The North announced that highly explosive ammonium nitrate fertilizer being shunted at the station had hit an electric cable in an accident, triggering the explosion that killed some 160 people and injured 1,300 others.

Kim Yong-sam, who had been in charge of railway affairs since 1998, last appeared in a report by the North's official Korean Central News Agency in 2008.

The news of the former railway chief's execution came more than a year after North Korea reportedly executed Pak Nam-gi, former chief of the planning and finance department of the ruling Workers' Party, over Pyongyang's botched currency reform in 2009 that caused massive inflation and worsened food shortages.

Sources in South Korea said there is also a possibility that former Finance Minister Mun Il-bong was executed over the failed currency reform.

It is not unusual for North Korea to execute senior officials for policy failures. In the 1990s, North Korea executed a top agricultural official over a massive famine that was estimated to have killed 2 million people.

Good grief. Are there estimates as to how big this explosion was ?

At the time, people were analyzing the crater made and many were thinking that it was some low level nuke that was being transported on the train. At that same time, Kim Jong was radio silent for a good chunk of time.

Train-wreck and Explosion

Initial reports indicated that on April 22, 2004, two trains, one carrying petroleum and the other liquefied natural gas, collided near the North Korean town of Ryongchon, ten miles southeast of the Chinese border, causing a massive explosion. Additional information, both from the North Korean government and other sources indicate that the cause of the explosion was not a result of trains carrying fuel, but was instead caused by the detonation of explosives that the trains were carrying.

The accident took place hours after the passage of North Korean Leader Kim Jong Il, who was returning from a visit to Beijing. Initial casualty estimates were reported to be in the thousands, with North Korea reported to having declared a state of emergency. United Nations and Red Cross officials reported early on April 23 that at least 54 people were killed and more than 1,200 injured in the disaster, but the toll could ultimately be much higher as over a thousand buildings were completely destroyed and more buildings were seriously damaged.

On April 24, 2004, the Korean Central News Agency released an item commenting on the explosion. According to the report, the blast was caused by "the electrical contact caused by carelessness during the shunting of wagons loaded with ammonium nitrate fertilizer and tank wagons".

According to an UN Office For The Coordination Of Humanitarian Affairs Report from 24 April 2004, the explosion resulted from the contact of two train wagons carrying ammonium nitrate with a wagon containing fuel oil. Each wagon contained 40 MT of ammonium nitrate which were enroute to a construction site for the Pakma-cheol san irrigation project. This resulted in a massive explosion creating a large crater and leveling everything in a 500 m radius.

As of 24 April 2004, the explosion had injured approximately 1,300 people, 370 of which were hospitalized. 154 bodies had been recovered, including 76 children while five people were reported missing.

In addition, 1,850 houses were either destroyed or rendered unsafe due to the explosion. Most of these houses were single story dwellings. An estimated 1,850 families (approximately 8,000 people) have been made homeless by the accident. This represents approximately 40 per cent of the area of the township. Public buildings suffered major damage; 12 were completely destroyed and 10 partially destroyed. Some images of the resulting damage were also released, some of which can be seen here.

According to a KCNA release, the radius of the damage caused by the explosion was 2 km, with the most serious damage concentrated within the radius of 1.5 km. The wagon explosion was reported to have made a 15 meter deep crater.

Ryongchon County has a population of 123,200 people, of whom 27,000 live in the county city.

“This incident alone is a source for good documentary film.”

How about a good spy thriller, instead? Possibly in the guise of something that really happened? Indeed, make it a plot against Kim. Possibilities are endless. Plot induced by:

1. Internal dissent.

2. Plot by rivals.

3. Fostered by the Chinese

4. Fostered by South Koreans

5. Some combination of the above.

Plot consists of before, during, and after. Shows plotting, implementation, and by an ironic twist of fate, why was unsuccessful. Concludes with NK quest for conspirators, how they were sold-out, tracked down and executed. Political machinations of conspirators and their supporters, how additonal more or less innocent people get dragged into the conspiracy through desperation and deception, etc. Grim backdrop of NK society as much a part of the story as the plot itself. Includes corruption, floods, famine, repression, failure of society to work, nuclear accidents, using the West against itself, etc. Movie shot on location in SK with many SK actors.

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