Bus crash survivors in DPRK come home
A specially arranged train from Pyongyang carrying the bodies of Chinese tourists killed in a recent traffic accident and those injured arrived in Shenyang, Liaoning province, on Thursday morning, the Foreign Ministry said.
Kim Jong-un, leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, went to the railway station in Pyongyang, the nation’s capital, on Wednesday evening to see the train off, the ministry said in a news release on Thursday.
The bus accident on Sunday night in North Hwanghae province — in the southwest section of the DPRK — killed 32 Chinese tourists and four citizens of the DPRK. Two Chinese citizens were seriously injured.
Kim visited the Chinese embassy in Pyongyang on Monday morning to express his sympathy, and later that day visited the two injured Chinese at a DPRK hospital.
At the Pyongyang railway station on Wednesday, Kim once again expressed his condolences to the Chinese side for those killed and their family members, and he boarded the train to greet the injured Chinese citizens.
The DPRK dispatched senior officials of the Workers’ Party of Korea and its government to board and escort the train.
Li Jinjun, Chinese ambassador to the DPRK, working groups of the embassy and the Chinese Foreign Ministry, as well as Chinese medical experts, took the same train back to China.
Also on Wednesday, Kim and other DPRK leaders jointly sent a message of condolence to Chinese leaders.
Gao Xiaobing, vice-minister of civil affairs, represented the central government when greeting the train arriving in Shenyang on Thursday, according to a statement from her ministry.
Authorities including relevant departments and local governments will continue assisting the relatives of those affected, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Thursday.