Pyongyang seeks help, keeps quiet about biggest train disaster in country's history
Seoul (AsiaNews/Agencies) The North Korean government has asked for the help of the Red Cross to deal with emergency caused by yesterday's train accident. The South Korean news service, Yonhap, reported that the accident's toll stands at 3000 victims, among dead and injured. Pyongyang has accepted the U.N.'s assistance, allowing its officials to go the site of the disaster.
Pyongyang's request for help is an implicit admission that the accident occurred. But for the time being no official confirmation has been given.
News and details on how the disaster occurred, on the situation's current status and damage have all been supplied by South Korean sources. Twenty-four hours after the accident, North Korean authorities and government agencies are still silent.
The Red Cross says that it appears from initial investigations that 54 people have died and 1200 injured; 850 homes were destroyed and 6350 were seriously damaged.
Red Cross spokesman in Beijing, John Sparrow, said North Korea had not released figures to his organization regarding the numbers of dead and injured. He said the government had only solicited the humanitarian organization's help.
Sparrow stated that even under normal circumstances, the country is greatly lacking health services and medical supplies.
Jeong Se-hyun, South Korean unification minister, said that Beijing had asked Pyongyang to bring the wounded to Chinese hospitals located along the border. However North Korea wanted China to send emergency squads to the scene of the accident.
Various Chinese officials at the border said they knew nothing about the accident, while doctors at hospitals in Dandong (the closest Chinese city) said they were alerted about the emergency, but never saw anyone show up.
The South Korean television network, YTN, reported that many in Dandong are worried about their loved ones. YTN reported that some Chinese were injured in the train accident, but had been brought to hospitals in the city.
Hence it was confirmed that there were some Chinese involved in the accident in the small city of Ryongchon (50 km from Pyongyang and 20 km from the Chinese border).
The Chinese news agency, Xinhua, reported that the Chinese embassy in Pyongyang had confirmed that 2 Chinese died and 12 others injured.
The accident occurred just a few hours after President Kim Jong-Il traveled the area on another train on his return trip from China. Hence the accident has raised many suspicions, even of a possible assassination attempt.
"I don't think that it is was a sabotage attempt," said Jeong Se-hyun.
The head of the South Korean Red Cross is currently on an unrelated trip in North Korea, but has now been asked to evaluate the country's needs, the south Korean minister said. (MR)
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