Many Died Saving Kims' Portraits in Blast?
From
Yahoo/Reuters comes this interesting bit of propaganda coming from the North Korean government in the aftermath of the horrible train accident the other week.
bq. Many North Koreans died a "heroic death" after last week's train explosion by running into burning buildings to rescue portraits of leader Kim Jong-il and his father, the North's official media reported on Wednesday.
bq. Portraits of Kim and his late father, national founder Kim Il-sung, are mandatory fixtures in every home, office and factory in the hardline communist state of 23 million. All adults are required to wear lapel pins bearing images of one or both Kims.
bq. Last Thursday's blast in the town of Ryongchon, near the Chinese border, killed at least 161 people and injured 1,300, according to international relief agencies. Many of the victims were children.
bq. The dead also included workers and teachers who died clutching the portraits of the country's ruling family, said North Korea's official KCNA news agency.
bq. "Many people of the county evacuated portraits before searching after their family members or saving their household goods," KCNA said in a report with a Ryongchon dateline.
Here is the
English version of the KCMA website (all of their sites are hosted in Japan for some reason).
Posted by DaveH at April 28, 2004 1:26 PM