Free Republic

While I was heartened to hear that USAF Senior Airman Ahmad Al Halabi, like Army Chaplain (Capt) James Yee before him, had been cleared of charges of espionage and treason, I am nevertheless still deeply disturbed by the lack of media attention given this case. Granted, the allegations made a huge splash when they first surfaced in the fall of 2003, fueled to a white hot frenzy by prosecutorial whisperings of possible death sentences. At that time, the government was happy to have us believe that the tentacled reach of Al Qaeda extended all the way to the ranks of...

One Israeli assassin, a North Korean train explosion, dead Syrian scientists, fake Canadian passports, Dubai and New Zealand arrest warrants, and a poisoned Hamas guerrilla June 21, 2013 by Nate Thayer —3 Comments A mysterious North Korean train explosion, dead Syrian missile scientists, fake Canadian passports, a poisoned Hamas terrorist, and the Israeli assassin: One curious tale in the bloody global spy war behind the Middle East conflict An Israeli agent on a stolen Canadian passport spotted in Pyongyang raises eyebrows after Syrian weapons scientists are killed in a mysterious North Korean train explosion. At the time, he was...

Four years ago, one of China’s largest agricultural importers sent representatives to the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., hoping that meetings with elite party officials might yield business opportunities. The company, the Dandong Port Group, was particularly focused on the governors in attendance, according to an interview with Dandong’s general counsel broadcast by Chinese state television. But now, the company’s widening influence is coming under scrutiny by federal prosecutors, who are examining the relationship between Dandong’s wealthy and connected chairman, Wang Wenliang, and Gov. Terry McAuliffe of Virginia, a Democrat who was elected in 2013. A federal law enforcement...

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...

Reconstruction of Ryongchon In 2004 much of the town of Ryongchon was tragically destroyed in a large explosion. Here is the Wikipedia page on the disaster if you would like a quick reference. I compiled a couple of images to construct this “before” picture of Ryongchon: Notice that the center of town is composed largely of traditional houses. Here is the first “after” image (which is the default image on Google Earth): As you can see a large number of traditional houses were destroyed as well as a school. Below I have compiled more recent images to show how the...

/begin my summaryFood Aid For Ryongchon Diverted To Markets Most of the following photos are found at this link while most of the story is from another link. The following photos are from a video taken last July in Sunam Market, Chongjin, N. Korea. Due to tightened security at Sino-N. Korean border, RENK could not get hold of the video until recently. RENK is a Japanese organization dedicated to N. Korean human rights and refugees. Donated grains from international relief agencies, intended for victims of Ryongchon explosion last April, were diverted by N. Korean officials. They sold the grains to...

/begin my translation Ryongchon Explosion: Kim Jong-il's Distant Relative Tried to Kill Him With Chinese Blessing The nephew of Huh Dahm, the former head of National Peace and Unification Committee, and 8 others are arrested and executed for attempted assassination 'Ryongchon Explosion Is An Attempted Assassination of Kim Jong-il' Intelligence Agency Files a Report Huh Chang-suk is Kim Jong-il's distant relative, a member of 'peripheral royal family' Pro-Chinese technocrats in their 40's angry about the third generation succession attempt (Kim Jong-il to his son) "China gave up on Kim Jong-il, condoning the (assassination) attempt" First Source Episode 1) At the...

Gov't Confirms 'Non-Nuclear' N. Korean Explosion It was reported that there was a massive explosion Thursday around the town of Yongjo-ri, Kim Hyong-jik County, Ryanggang Province. U.S. Department of State, sources familiar with North Korea and the Korean government all confirmed the explosion. A high-ranking government official said Sunday, “It is true that a large mushroom cloud about 3.5 to 4 km in diameter was observed by a satellite at around 11:00 a.m. Thursday. It was not a nuclear test, but the explosion seemed to be three times bigger than the one that took place during the Ryongchon Station...

N. Korea fires security chief Yomiuri Shimbun The North Korean security minister has been replaced with a senior military general, the Korean Central News Agency said Saturday. It gave no reason for the new appointment, but it is extremely unusual for a minister in charge of domestic security to be dismissed only a year after assuming the post. According to KCNA, the Standing Committee of North Korea's Supreme People's Assembly, in its government ordinance dated Friday, relieved People's Security Minister Choe Ryong Su of his position and appointed Ju Sang Song, a general in the country's People's Army, to replace...

/begin my translation [Ryongchon Mystery]Who Blew Up Ryongchon? It has been almost two months since Ryongchon Train Explosion occurred in N. Korea. A plenty of relief aids were sent from all over the world, when the world saw pictures of children badly wounded by the blast. According to Lee Jong-hyuk, the vice chairman of N. Korean Asia-Pacific Peace Committee, who visited Seoul on June 14th, the reconstruction and repair of Ryongchon would be complete by coming October. Its residents, especially those wounded children, could soon start smiling again at their new homes and schools. However, under such an uplifting outlook,...

North Korea train explosion meant for Kim Jong Il The World Today - Monday, 14 June , 2004 12:18:00 Reporter: Mark Simkin ELEANOR HALL: A report from Pyongyang suggests that April's deadly train explosion was in fact an assassination attempt on North Korean leader, Kim Jong Il. More than one hundred people died and thousands were injured in disaster. At the time, the communist country said the blast was caused by electrical cables accidentally coming in contact with ammonium nitrate. It's thought that Kim Jong Il's train passed through the site just a few hours before the explosion. Joining me...

/begin my translation N. Korea: Syrians Present At the Ryongchon Explosion Site (new details:bio/chem-tipped missiles) Dead Syrians sent home about a week after the accident. While the train explosion at Ryongchon station, N. Pyongan Province, N. Korea, on 22nd of last April, still generates many speculations on its possible causes, including a failed assassination of Kim Jong-il, a freak accident, a staged accident by N. Koreans, it is now confirmed that there were many Syrians among the casualties of the explosion. According to a knowledgeable intelligence source on N. Korean matters, about a week after the accident, on May 1st,...

Rebuilding, Rumors Robust 5 Weeks After N.Korea Blast Thu May 27, 6:16 AM ET Add World - Reuters to My Yahoo! By Paul Eckert and John Ruwitch SEOUL/BEIJING (Reuters) - North Korean workers are rapidly rebuilding the town destroyed by a deadly train blast last month, but the rumor mill about the explosion is working just as fast. Aid workers and diplomats who assessed rumors and sketchy reports about the cause of the April 22 explosion at Ryongchon and about draconian North Korean responses say it is hard to draw firm conclusions in the atmosphere of secrecy. The explosion, which...

Sights of Silence By RICHARD RAGAN as told to JAMES BROOKE Published: May 23, 2004 North Korea is a whisker smaller than my home state, Mississippi. But when I heard about the explosion last month at Ryongchon train station, I knew I was in for a long, hard drive. As the crow flies, it was 300 miles. But I was in the northeast corner of the country, near the Russian border, when I heard the news on the BBC. With North Korea's bumpy dirt roads and circuitous routes, our convoy of white Toyota Land Cruisers faced a three-day, 800-mile road...

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...

/begin my translation Ryongchon Explosion Occurred While Transporting Military Cargo? Sankei Shimbun, a Japanese Daily, reported on 7th (of May, 2004), "In Ryongchon Blast, Syrian engineers were killed and wounded. A wagon carrying a large cargo had a particularly heavy damage, revealed on 6th (of May, 2004) by a military news source who has great expertise on Korean matters." According to the source, "the content of the cargo is unknown. However, after the accident, N. Korean military personnels in protective suits arrived at the scene, and recovered the remains of the destroyed wagon. We strongly suspect that the accident occurred...

Click on the small image to view a larger version New Post-blast Satellite Imagery from DigitalGlobe Pre-explosion overview of the area of devastion(Source: DigitalGlobe 13 May 2003) Overview of the area of devastion (Source: DigitalGlobe 27 April 2004) Comparative overview of the blast-affected town of Ryongchon Approximate location of the explosion(Source: DigitalGlobe 13 May 2003) Approximate location of the explosion, post-blast The explosion's crater appears to have been partially filled in(Source: DigitalGlobe 27 April 2004) Comparative overview of the approximate location of the explosion in the town of Ryongchon The Ryongchon Primary School, pre-explosion(Source: DigitalGlobe 13 May 2003) The...

Video Footage of the Explosion Site (by World Food Program: 4 min 26 sec long)

More Info on N. Korean Explosion Site(A recent defector's take) KBS1 Radio around 1pm in S. Korean time interviewed a recent N. Korean defector(refugee) from Shinuiju, located 10 miles north of Ryongchon, where the massive blast was believed to have killed or wounded 3,000 people yesterday. He says: (1) A lot of cargos are hauled in Ryongchon these days. Other established site like Yongju station does not have enough capacity to handle them all the time. Freight cars which cannot find their parking space are often parked in Ryongchon. Significant part of supplies destined for N. Korea from China went...