'Rail blast caused €300m in damage'

North Korea estimated today that last week’s massive train explosion caused about €300.8m in damage, an announcement that could be part of an effort to garner as much aid as possible for the impoverished nation.

Though international aid efforts are still gearing up, the value of relief goods pledged so far by the international community falls far short of the North Korean estimate.

It was unclear exactly how North Korea arrived at the damage estimate, though it said more than 30 public buildings and houses for at least 8,100 families were destroyed.

The blast was equivalent to “about 100 bombs each weighing one ton” going off at the same time, said KCNA, the North’s official news agency.

The explosion at the railway station in Ryongchon on Thursday left at least 161 people dead and injured 1,300 others, aid agencies have said, citing North Korean officials. The North blamed the blast on workers who knocked train wagons carrying oil and chemicals against power lines.

Koh Yu-hwan, a South Korean expert on the North, said the government in Pyongyang was giving a detailed report on the damages because it desperately needs international aid, and also because it probably hopes to change its reclusive image.

“Aside from the reconstruction operations, North Korea is generally facing serious economic problems so through this incident, it probably hopes to let the international community know about its economic plight and hopes to get assistance,” Koh said.

Koh did not speculate on whether North Korea was inflating the cost figure. He said it was difficult to be secretive about the damage because the site is close to China.

“They are giving detailed reports because they can’t cope with the situation domestically, and need foreign help,” said Ma Young-ae, a North Korean defector who arrived in South Korea in 2001.

The communist country has relied on outside food aid to feed its people since the mid-1990s, and has sometimes extracted aid and other concessions from South Korea and the United States with tough bargaining and even threats.

North Korea has barred South Korean trucks from ferrying relief goods across the tense border between the two countries. It says the goods can go by ship, and has asked South Korea to send school supplies and building materials to assist with reconstruction efforts.

North Korea said it hoped reconstruction efforts would be complete within three months.

A task force, to be led by Vice Premier Ro Tu Chol, will build 25 new public buildings and new houses for over 800 families, KCNA said. It will also renovate houses for 3,600 families.

North Korean officials “are working hard in the revolutionary soldier spirit to enable the people in the afflicted area to live better than before the accident,” KCNA said.