Silence from North Korea over reports of major explosion

A video showing plumes of black smoke rising from a North Korean city near the border with China has emerged amid reports that deadly explosions occurred there earlier this week.

There has been no official word from North Korea or China about what happened in the North Korean city of Hyesan on Monday.

But South Korean media and outside monitoring groups reported that gas explosions in a residential area left dozens of people dead or injured.

The reports could not be independently confirmed.

The video shows orange flames and black smoke shooting into the sky from Hyesan as loud explosion-like sounds are heard.

A few people can be seen watching the scene from the Chinese side of the border.

The video was provided by Wang Bo, a travel agent who said he filmed it from a park in the Chinese border town of Changbai.

“I just saw explosions and there were a lot of onlookers who were looking in that direction. We don’t know the reason why there were explosions,” Mr Wang said.

Mr Wang, who said he has previously visited Hyesan, said the explosions happened not far from the city’s orphanage and tourism office.

Many Chinese border towns are very close to North Korea, separated only by a river which is also the border.

Other videos of the reported explosions have been circulating on Chinese and South Korean social media.

In Seoul, South Korea’s spy agency and the unification ministry, which handles relations with North Korea, said they could not immediately confirm the reported explosions.

Unification ministry spokesman Yoh Sangkey still told reporters that he felt sorry for any possible casualties.

The Seoul-based Daily NK, which specialises in North Korea news, yesterday cited unidentified sources in North Korea as saying that the explosions left 15 people dead and the death toll could rise.

It earlier reported petrol stored at a house in Hyesan ignited and led to the explosion of a nearby liquid petroleum gas cylinder, and this caused chain explosions of gas cylinders attached to other houses.

Other South Korean media carried similar reports.

Ahn Kyung-su, a researcher, said one of his North Korean refugee sources in South Korea told him that she heard from her relative in Hyesan about the reported explosions during a phone conversation on Tuesday.

North Korean state media, which rarely acknowledge accidents, have not commented on the reported explosions. In 2017, state media reported six people died when the roof of a mine collapsed.