My take on the North Korean explosion today

[ShaneGR]

Ok, I believe that any rational individual understands that North Korea is a VERY dangerous threat. They can't be invaded. They can only be contained. It's a shame really, you should see some of the footage of N. Korean leader Kim Jong doing these patriotic rallies (Kind of like Cultural Revolution in China minus all the red). Not to mention impossible terrain, dozens of nuclear warheads, and the presumed capability to launch them into the western parts of mainland north america.

So, the Bush Administration and the State Department realized that the whole "Axis of Evil" and ignore them thing didn't work. They leaned on China for assistance. China has a considerable financial stake in N. Korea not initiating nuclear war on its borders. Does anyone realize how much money the Chinese are making these days?

So the Chinese tell Kim Jong to come to China. They figure they'll bribe him and he'll keep quiet for a few years. Well, crazy Kim Jong doesn't take the bait. Or he doesn't give up enough.

So they track his movements back into N. Korea when he leaves and blow up a train station just after he passes through it. Does anyone think that an explosion that rained debris down on a town 12 miles away was really a train accident?

That's my theory, China is sending a warning to Kim Jong.

Read this article carefully:

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20040422/D82429D80.html

(snips)
The secretive communist government in Pyongyang declared an emergency while cutting off international telephone lines to prevent details of the crash from leaking out, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported.

The North Korean leader, Kim Jong Il, had quietly passed by rail through the station as he returned from China before dawn some nine hours earlier. It was not clear what caused the crash, or if it was related to Kim's journey.

"The area around Ryongchon station has turned into ruins as if it were bombarded," Yonhap quoted witnesses as saying. "Debris from the explosion soared high into the sky and drifted to Sinuiju," a North Korean town on the border with China, it said.

China, which also confirmed Kim's visit, is North Korea's last major ally, and the countries' ruling communist parties boast of close ties. But while China's experiments with capitalism have transformed it into an economic dynamo, North Korea suffers chronic food shortages and depends on its larger neighbor for aid.

[buddy22600]

1. nah, it was america not china

[ShaneGR]

17. Sorry, if that was so, N.K. would be throwing a fit

A military strike on a train station by the USA? Kim Jong would be jumping for joy screaming and yelling. A strike by China on the otherhand, he'd have to keep quiet.

You've got the wrong tinfoil hat on.

[montanacowboy]

2. Maybe you got the wrong country

it might have been our very own spooks

[soleft]

3. All I know is that today is 9/11 in NK

Not in a political, military, way - but in terms of the fact that 3000 lives were lost. The wives, husbands, mothers, fathers and children of 3000 human beings are today mourning their loss - and are just as traumatized as we were here in the US.

I sincerely hope that Kim doesn't believe he was a target of assassination in this tragedy - because he does, and he reacts out of vengeance - the lust of vengeance that many felt after 9/11 - there's no telling what he might do.

Does any know if Bush has said anything about this catastrophe.

[northzax]

5. and 3000 is a whole higher percentage of the NK

population than the US. Someone did the maths and pointed out that the moque bombing in Iraq were a greater percentage of the iraq population that 9/11 was for the US.

my question to all of this: what kind of fuel were these trains carrying, exactly? Gasoline isn't THAT explosive, and diesel certainly isn't. aviation grade, maybe?

either way, allow me to repeat my original thought on hearing this: fucking bastards. that's my respone to any bad news these days, especially concerning explosions.

[nostamj]

6. what kind of fuel ?

liquified gas according to report I heard.

very VERY nasty stuff.... kinda like a nuke without the radiation.

[ButterflyBlood]

4. if this was an assasination attempt, China would be the top candidate

but I don't think they'd miss him by 9 hours. And the CIA wouldn't either for all you ridiculous tinfoilers.

Furthermore, China seems like they'd eliminate him in a more clean manner, such as a sniper. This would probably be blamed on rebels or an attempted coup by someone in the NK government.

[northzax]

7. really, well I have another idea

what if this was only to scare him? he's a pithy little man who likes his pleasures, and this might be to put the fear of god into him. sorta like the fish in the newspaper: we can get close engouh to you to kill you, now pay attentino. of course, if he does, in fact, get all antsy and start sword rattling, it's a good thing we've got that missile defense system, right?

hey, wait a minute...

[KittyWampus]

14. A Warning That KILLS 3000 & Destroys The Railway Needed For Food Supplies?

not likely...

[northzax]

15. what better warning?

dost thou believe that the government of the PRC gives a flying fuck about a couple of thousand North Koreans?

There isa long and not-so-glorious history of countries using warning shots like this. the US dropped the bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki as a WARNING to Tokyo that they were next. The Allies bombed Dresden as a warning to Berlin. Germany leveled Warsaw as a warning to anyone who would oppse them.

sorry to disillusion you, but this is not particularly new.

[walmartsucks]

19. Actually

The allies devestated Dresden because of the nonstop, indiscriminate bombing of England that went on for what must have seemed like an eternity to those who lived there. They were really pissed when they finally achieved air superiority.

[Minstrel Boy]

11. What's the source for his having passed by nine hours earlier?

Kim Jong Il's movements are not precisely telegraphed.

As far as I can see, none of the reports are actually from North Korea. Not surprising, given the nature of the state. But what do we know with certainty? Virtually all we know is coming through one South Korean reporter stationed in Beijing, who's been speaking with Chinese sources on the border, who had been speaking with relatives in Ryongchon before North Korea cut the international phone lines.

The Times of India says that the South Korean military was informed of the incident by an intelligence service hostile to the North.

The more I think about this, the less sure I am of what's happened.

[ShaneGR]

18. I read somewhere it was an hour, not 9

But you're right, we're relying on Chinese reports for the most part, it's on the Chinese border.

[Sterling]

21. Wrong, the CIA missed OBL by 12 hours.

When Clinton tried to get OBL in the training camps in Afghanistan we missed by almost 12 hours. This stuff is harder than it looks it seems.

[charlie]

8. Maybe Dear Leader wants to retire

Y'know, "kill" himself and live the carefree life of a rich anonymous ex-despot :)

[charlie]

9. Or maybe...

Plan 5030? :tinfoilhat:

[bahrbearian]

12. Thanks , Good Link.

[WoodrowFan]

10. safety conditions

Given that safety conditions in North Korea simply don't exist (you think they have OSHA??) an accident is NOT out of the question. Like in the old Soviet Union worker's rigths and safety is simply not considered, only meeting Dear Leader's quotas.

[KittyWampus]

13. You Know, Two Trains Collided In Penn Station The Other Day

shit happens. Especially in countries with rotting infrastructure, no money and probably no safety standards.

[doni_georgia]

16. My theory is there was something other than petro

on those trains. 12 miles of debris - no mention of the "accident" on N. Korean TV, international phone lines cut off - there was something that exploded for sure, but I don't think it was petro. An explosion that big should have been picked up by satelite photos. Be interesting to see.

[Steven_S]

20. a trainload of gasoline hits a trainload of LPG...

One bigass bomb.

I remember when a kid in a plumbing supply house dropped a 20-lb tank of LPG (propane) down the basement stairs.

The resultant explosion dropped the four-story building down on him.

Nasty stuff.