North Korean leader Kim Jong-il passed through the station several hours before the explosion as he returned from a secretive meeting in China. It was believed by the North Korean officials investigating the explosion that it might have been an assassination attempt [2], but this was treated with skepticism by South Korea. [3] A popular conjecture^{[citation needed]} is that one of the trains involved was carrying fuel from China, possibly a shipment that Kim had requested. If the incident did involve a train collision, it has been suggested that the cause of the accident may have been a miscommunication related to the changes in train timetables due to Kim Jong-il's itinerary. There is "a detailed report quoting military sources which appeared on May 7, 2004, in the Sankei Shimbun, a Japanese newspaper," that "about a dozen ... technicians said to be from Syria’s Centre D’Etudes et de Recherche Scientifique, a body known to be engaged in military technology," were killed in the disaster. [4]

Other observers have suggested that the poor state of North Korea's railway system may have contributed to the disaster. It accounts for about 90% of freight transportation, with a lack of fuel forcing most trucks and other vehicles off the road. The railroad, built by the Japanese forces that occupied Korea during World War II, is reported to be in poor repair, with aged rolling stock running no faster than 40 mph or 65 km/h (in part due to poor electrical supply, again caused by the country's fuel shortage).

[

North Korean government response

The unusually frank admission of the accident by North Korean government might have been a sign of a thaw in the grip of the party-controlled media in the country which is notorious for being a mouthpiece and being secretive.

[

References

[

See also

• List of Korea-related topics

[

External links

• Mystery surrounds N Korea blast (BBC)
• New theory on N Korea rail blast (BBC)
• GlobalSecurity.org report and satellite imagery
• View GlobalSecurity.org images on Google Earth
• Download a map of the entire North Korean Railway system to Google Earth here.

Coordinates: 39°58′50″N, 124°27′31″E

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