Article

2004-06-13 China-Japan-Koreas

Train blast believed to be attempt to kill Kim

Archived material is restricted to Rantburg regulars and members. If you need access email fred.pruitt=at=gmail.com with your nick to be added to the members list. There is no charge to join Rantburg as a member.

Posted by Zenster 2004-06-13 8:02:05 PM|| || Front Page|| [7 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Please move to page 1. Thank you.

Posted by Zenster 2004-06-13 8:11:32 PM|| 2004-06-13 8:11:32 PM|| Front Page Top

#2 How the hell can a country where the people are starving have even semi-widespread mobile phone use?

And how do the NorKs explain the Syrians killed on the train? Dumb luck?

Posted by Barbara Skolaut 2004-06-13 9:16:38 PM|| 2004-06-13 9:16:38 PM|| Front Page Top

#3 How the hell can a country where the people are starving have even semi-widespread mobile phone use?

treadmills?

Posted by Frank G 2004-06-13 9:32:18 PM|| 2004-06-13 9:32:18 PM|| Front Page Top

#4 Ahhh - the hamster angle - how devious!

Posted by .com 2004-06-13 9:33:55 PM|| 2004-06-13 9:33:55 PM|| Front Page Top

#5 Barbara, many emerging economies no longer begin with copper wire and migrate directly to cellular communications. The expense of planting poles and stringing cable far outweighs the cost of installing cell systems. As noted in the article, North Korea's mobile service provider was just begining to hit payback, so there is obviously a market ... which Kim has just strangled in the cradle. Add another 1,000 people to the starvation obituaries come wintertime.

Posted by Zenster 2004-06-13 9:36:07 PM|| 2004-06-13 9:36:07 PM|| Front Page Top

#6 When the whole world hates you, it must be very difficult to discern who might actually have tried to blow you away. Too bad, Dear Leader, so sad.

Posted by RWV 2004-06-13 9:41:56 PM|| 2004-06-13 9:41:56 PM|| Front Page Top

#7 The guys with the cell phones won't be the ones working in the fields or building Socialism in One Country in the factories. I'd say to look among the senior officers. Prob'ly time for a good, old-fashioned blood purge.

Posted by Fred 2004-06-13 10:10:34 PM|| 2004-06-13 10:10:34 PM|| Front Page Top

#8 Lots of wierd shit on this one. Mobile fone as detonator most likely means an on-scene operator to trigger the blast.

So why wait five hours if Kimmie was the target?

And, just for the record, it's far more likely that rocket propellant was the fuel for the major blast. Ammonium Nitrate works best as a FAE, not packed densely in powder cars.

Which brings up the question: Who would like to see the Norks stop selling missiles to Syria?

Other than "everyone sane", that is...

Posted by mojo 2004-06-13 10:14:48 PM|| 2004-06-13 10:14:48 PM|| Front Page Top

#9 I'd say to look among the senior officers. Prob'ly time for a good, old-fashioned blood purge

One of the initial BBC reports mentioned one rumor that the blast may have been propogated by NK military leadership, who were angered that "reforms were taking place". I couldn't find that piece two days later, and it wasn't mentioned in later reports. No personal comment as to credibility.

Posted by Pappy 2004-06-13 10:35:54 PM|| 2004-06-13 10:35:54 PM|| Front Page Top

#10 Frank-
In a country like Nork, only the elite would have cellphones..elites like Generals, commissars, ministers...all the people most likely to want Odashee Kim out of the way.
Let 'em ban the cell phones. As Mister Floyd used to say, just another brick in the wall....

Mike

Posted by Mike Kozlowski 2004-06-13 10:41:37 PM|| 2004-06-13 10:41:37 PM|| Front Page Top

#11 I'm skeptical of this.

Let me get this straight: the bomb blasted out a massive crater hundreds of meters across, but they think they've found the detonator intact?

Does that sound fishy to anyone else?

Posted by Phil Fraering 2004-06-13 10:54:35 PM|| [http://newsfromthefridge.typepad.com] 2004-06-13 10:54:35 PM|| Front Page Top

#12 Wait a minute -- somebody tried to take out L'il Kim?

Posted by Infidel Bob 2004-06-13 10:58:03 PM|| 2004-06-13 10:58:03 PM|| Front Page Top

#13 Some people think so, Bob.

With this latest story, though, I'm beginning to wonder if it was an accident of some kind, and some people (who, I don't know) have decided to use the accident to sow as much Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt as possible.

Posted by Phil Fraering 2004-06-13 11:24:31 PM|| [http://newsfromthefridge.typepad.com] 2004-06-13 11:24:31 PM|| Front Page Top

#14 Let me get this straight: the bomb blasted out a massive crater hundreds of meters across, but they think they've found the detonator intact? Does that sound fishy to anyone else?

Not at all. Remember how they found part of the solid state detonator PCB from the Lockerbie atrocity? A relatively light object like a cell phone's CPU chip would have been lifted quite clear of the main conflagration by the blast's shock wave. Additionally, the lead frame of a cell phone's integrated circuitry would have been rather easy to locate using a conventional metal detector.

If you examine the photo distributed by Chosun Ilbo's online edition, the crater is nowhere near the size of a few football fields (i.e., "100s of meters"). The only surprise is that North Korea had sufficient forensic talent onboard to have located and analysed the evidence.

Posted by Zenster 2004-06-13 11:26:32 PM|| 2004-06-13 11:26:32 PM|| Front Page Top

#15 Kim had just met with the Chinese leadership. Perhaps the meeting didn't go well, and the Chinese were trying to send Kim a message.

Posted by A Jackson 2004-06-13 11:27:12 PM|| 2004-06-13 11:27:12 PM|| Front Page Top

#16 Kim had just met with the Chinese leadership. Perhaps the meeting didn't go well, and the Chinese were trying to send Kim a message.

Some speculations had his train accompanied by a large shipment of aviation fuel as a Chinese gift to Kim. Maybe China was just trying to "pack his bags" for him.

Posted by Zenster 2004-06-14 12:16:33 AM|| 2004-06-14 12:16:33 AM|| Front Page Top

18:07 Anonymous5892
18:15 Bulldog
12:41 ex-lib
12:40 Anonymous4617
12:13 Ptah
08:49 Aris Katsaris
06:29 Howard UK
05:38 Bulldog
05:22 Howard UK
05:20 Bulldog
05:19 Bulldog
05:19 Howard UK
03:56 Bulldog
00:17 GK
00:16 Zenster
23:51 Zenster
23:39 Zenster
23:27 A Jackson
23:26 Zenster
23:24 Phil Fraering
23:12 Phil Fraering
23:09 B
23:09 jackal
23:03 Fred