Kim Jong Il assassinated in military coup ?

Kim Jong Il avoided flying because he feared aerial assassination. Instead, Kim traveled by train and only within North Korea and on rare occasions to China and Russia. However, it may have been during a train trip that Kim was assassinated.

WMR's well-placed Asian sources have reported that Kim Jong Il died as the result of an assassination plot by senior members of the North Korean military. As WMR reported on July 8, 2010, Kim narrowly escaped an assassination on April 22, 2004, when a massive explosion tore through the train station in Ryongchon, North Korea. The explosion destroyed 40 percent of the town and had the fingerprints of an Israeli intelligence operation. It was later discovered that a rigged cell phone triggered the blast, which also killed a dozen Syrian missile technicians working for the Syrian Center for Scientific Research were also killed in the blast. The Syrians were said to have been receiving training on the North Korean Scud C and D missiles that North Korea had sold to Syria.

Kim's train had just transited through Ryongchon a few hours before the explosion en route to Pyongyang from a trip to China.

North Korea's UN ambassador claimed the explosion was caused by two train cars full of dynamite and was an accident. However, it was unusual for a North Korean official to admit that dynamite was allowed anywhere near the Ryongchon train station during the same time the Dear Leader was transiting through the town. On May 24, 2004, South Korea's Chosun Ilbo reported what a North Korean official who was visiting China said about the explosion. The official said, "the North Korean National Security Agency has investigated the incident since it took place and concluded that rebellious forces had plotted the explosions targeting the exclusive train of Kim Jong Il. The security agency, in particular, gained evidence that cell phones had been used in triggering the explosion and reported to the North Korean leader that the use of cell phones should be banned for the sake of the leader's safety." North Korean security agents discovered the remnants of a cell phone with adhesive tape attached to it at the blast scene. The Mossad pioneered the use of cell phones in triggering explosions.

The reporting by North Korea's official state media on Kim's death was unusual. It said he died while on a train visit. However, satellite photos show that Kim's special train never left Pyongyang over the weekend. Kim's death was reported on Saturday, December 17. The official state media reported that Kim died from a heart attack. State media reported that Kim died from a "combination of severe acute myocardial infarction and serious renal shock while on board a field train."



MORE ON NEWSFOLLOWUP...