A train carrying gifts for North Korea heir apparent Kim Jong Un (right) derailed in a possible act of revolt, a Seoul-based radio station said. -- PHOTO: AP
SEOUL - A TRAIN carrying birthday gifts for North Korea's future leader derailed this month in a possible act of revolt by the regime's opponents, a Seoul-based radio station targeting North Koreans said on Monday.
Open Radio for North Korea said the Pyongyang-bound train carrying gifts for Kim Jong Un, the youngest son and heir apparent of leader Kim Jong Il, derailed upon departing from Sinuiju, on the border with China, on December 11.
It quoted a military intelligence official in the North's north-western province of North Pyongan as saying sabotage may have caused the crash.
'The North's railways are so outdated... but in this case, the railway tracks were so badly ruined that it looks like someone intentionally damaged them when the train was about to pass,' the intelligence official was quoted as saying.
The South's National Intelligence Service said it was checking the report. Jong Un, believed aged 27, was in September made a four-star general and given senior posts in the ruling communist party during the North's biggest political meeting for three decades.
The source said the gifts for Jong Un, whose birthday is on January 8, include a large number of expensive watches and TVs. Kim Jong Il, 68, took over from his own father Kim Il Sung. He is known to be accelerating the power transfer to his third son after suffering from a stroke in 2008. -- AFP
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