By Kwak Seung-jin
Staff reporter

Two fuel trains collided and exploded at a station in a North Korean town Thursday afternoon, leaving up to 3,000 people killed or injured, South Korean officials said on Friday.

The casualties were taken to hospitals, some even to the Chinese border city of Dandung. The officials added they were collecting more information about the number of the casualties and other details of the explosion, as North Korea remained silent about the explosion.

Seoul was willing to offer aids when requested by the North, they said.

The explosion occurred in Ryongchon, a town about 20 km south of the Sino-North Korean border around 2 p.m. Thursday.

The explosion left the town of Ryongchon in shambles, destroying houses, buildings and schools near the station. The victims include residents, school children and passers-by, the officials said.

The crash occurred about 9 hours after North Korean leader Kim Jong-il had passed by rail through the station on his way back to Pyongyang from a four-day China visit.

North Korea declared a state of emergency in the area where the explosion occurred, and reportedly asked for China’s help.

NK Accident Chronology


August, 1970

- Air Coryo passenger flight crashes, killing all passengers, including Fisheries Minister Kim Won-bin.

Mid-1970s

- A freight train carrying chemical fertilizer explodes at Hungnam Station in South Hamgyong Province

February, 1984

- An Air Coryo plane heading for the Soviet Union crashes, killing all passengers, including Forestry Minister Dong Min-gwang

1985

- Around 500 people are killed or injured when a train crashes in Chongpyong, South Hamgyong Province.

1987

- A train carrying North Korean soldiers explodes in Hwasong, South Hamgyong Province.

1997

- Around 2,000 people are killed or injured when a train crashes in Hichon, Chagang Province.

January, 2000

- Around 1,000 people are killed or injured in a train accident in Yangdok, South Pyongan Province.


South Korean officials brushed aside the possibility that explosion was an attempt to assassinate Kim, who took power in 1994 after the death of his father, Kim Il-sung.

The deadly explosion is linked to the decrepit state of the North Korean infrastructure, and the secretive North Korean government cut international phone lines to prevent news of the explosion from leaking abroad, the officials said.

The lack of information about exactly what happened spurred speculation. Fuels are in desperate need in North Korea whose industrial base is barely functioning.

The United States also offered its sympathy to North Korea Thursday following reports of the accident.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said that the U.S. has always been willing to help North Korea’s people on humanitarian grounds, but that there is currently not enough information available to determine if there is any assistance Washington can offer