At the end of November, there was an
accident at a railway construction site between Hyesan and Samjiyon that killed
more than ten workers. The workers consisted of graduates from a school for orphans in Pochon County, Ryanggang Province.
The Samjiyon rail line starts in Wei Yan in North Korea’s Ryanggang Province and is mainly used by residents looking to
sightsee at the Baekdu Mountain historic site and Samjiyon revolutionary
battleground. Wood being shipped from Samjiyon and Pochon Counties also travels
on the Samjoyin Rail line.
In a telephone conversation with the Daily
NK on December 11th, an inside source from Ryanggang Province said, “At the end
of last month, 13 workers died after becoming buried in the earth during a
tragic accident at a railroad construction site on the Samjiyon Line. They were
working on a section of the track between Hwajeon and Karim Stations which is
particularly steep. The ground gave way and took the 13 workers down the side
of the hill.”
Daily NK crosschecked this news with two
additional sources in Ryanggang Province.
He added, “The workers were known as
Northern Rail Shock Troops from the Hyesan Battalion. They hailed from the
Hyesan Institute for Middle and High School Students (a school for orphaned
middle and high-school aged children). The workers had bodies that
resembled those of middle school children. Their loss is greatly felt by the
community.”
Hearing about the loss, he went on, “some
of the residents are pointing out that that ‘it’s no wonder they were so weak
and got dragged down with the earth, being given only rice mixed with potatoes (in
North Korea, this is considered to provide far less sustenance than pure rice).’
Apparently, cadres have been keeping much of the rice for themselves, and
to cover their tracks and bump up the volume of what was given to the workers,
they added in a bunch of potato bits.’”
According to the source, the ground at the
site of the accident has thoroughly caved in and the authorities have ordered
Korean Democratic Women’s Union Members to travel by foot for about 8
kilometers in order to repair and restore the site.
Many are concerned that more fatalities
will result from the construction of the Samjiyon rail line, not least because the
cadres assigned with managing the site do not provide their workers with all
the necessary safety equipment.
Moreover, “some of the Union Members have
muttered criticisms such as, ‘Party cadres view these workers as expendable
since they are orphans, but they would have made a big fuss if their own
children had died,'” the source concluded.
