Yongcheon Explosion, Self-made Drama by Kim Jong-il

Kim Deok-hong (66), who took refuge with the former secretary of the Labor Party, Hwang Jang-yeop, in 1997, claimed that there are many anti-establishment organizations opposing North Korean leader Kim Jong-il that are active in North Korea.

Kim claimed so in an interview with the 26th Sankei Newspaper of Japan and said, “I am keeping in touch with those organizations.”

He said, “They came to the conclusion that the accident at Yongcheon station this April was drama created by the Kim regime itself,” and claimed, “The regime has to justify its strengthening of law and order and its purges by announcing that there are groups that want to assassinate Kim Jong-il.” According to him, the missiles intended for export to Syria that were loaded aboard the train were exploded by them through such a method because their condition was not good.

Kim added that “although the Kim Jong-il regime tried to develop Sinuiju near Yongcheon as a special economic area, this place has a strong anti-government disposition from the Japanese rule of Korea. Because of this explosion, it might have its problematic residents moved to another area while constructing a new downtown area after tearing old buildings down.” He said, “There are about 210 counties, and I had news that anti-government organizations were spreading leaflets revealing details about the Yongcheon accident nationwide.”

Won-Jae Park parkwj@donga.com