North Korea declares state of emergency but shuts out world

NORTH Korea declared a state of emergency and closed down phonelines last night as the paranoid Stalinist state attempted to impose a news blackout after as many as 3,000 people were killed or injured in a horror train crash.

It was certain that a large number of people were killed, but it was impossible to determine how many, though some people speculated thousands might have died, said South Korea's Yonhap newsagency.

It would be one of the worst rail disasters ever and happened in a secretive Stalinist nation where starvation is commonplace while its leader Kim Jong Il enjoys a life of vintage brandy and, reputedly, imported blondes.