Apparently, it's a crime to deface a portrait of Kim Jong-il, even accidentally. So, while the trains were exploding last week, many of the victims were trying to rescue the portraits.
"Many people of the county evacuated portraits before searching after their family members or saving their household goods," [North Korea's official news agency] KCNA said in a report with a Ryongchon dateline."Upon hearing the sound of the heavy explosion on their way home for lunch, Choe Yong-il and Jon Tong-sik, workers of the county procurement shop, ran back to the shop," KCNA said.
"They were buried under the collapsing building to die a heroic death when they were trying to come out with portraits of President Kim Il-sung and leader Kim Jong-il," it said.
What a mess.
I suppose these people weren't trying to save the portraits at all, that's just the BS that the state run news outlet is putting out to pump up the messianic image of its leader.
Posted by: Redman | April 28, 2004 at 04:26 PM
You are probably right, Redman, which makes it a little bit less pathetic but still bizarre.
Posted by: George | April 28, 2004 at 07:23 PM