The Ryongchong Disaster

    On April 22nd, 2004, a disaster occurred which killed nearly 3000 people.  There are many different theories of why the disaster occurred, some people feel that it happened on accident, and some feel that it happened on purpose.  At 1PM on April 22nd, there was a train disaster that happened in Ryongchong near the boarder of The People's Republic of China.

Subject:    The subject of the event is the train disaster in Ryongchong, North Korea.  A large theme of the subject was whether the disaster happened on purpose or not.

Occasion:   It happened in Ryongchong, North Korea, on April 22nd, 2004.

Audience:    The event applies to citizens in general all around the world.  When such a large disaster occurs that kills this many people, most citizens around the world are interested to hear about what happened.

Purpose:    Some people feel that a possible purpose for the event occurring is because Kim Jong-il passed through the station several hours before the explosion as he returned from a meeting in China. It was suggested that the explosion might have been an assassination attempt.

Speaker:    The speaker for the event that occurred in Ryongchong is a New York Times author named James Brooke.

Tone:  The tone of the article is very informational, but is also a little saddening.  The way that the article is written is very informational, but the author of the article also places a tone that is heartfelt and sympathetic.

    Personally, I feel that the event in Ryongchong was something that was very horrible.  Even if it was an attempt to take out Kim Jong-Il and his horrible ways, it is not reasonable to put that many people at risk.  Maybe the train accident was an accidental derailing of the train, but maybe it also occurred on purpose.  It is amazing how someone like Kim Jong-Il and drive people to putting thousands of people at risk just to kill him.  This is a great example of how all violence does is lead to more violence.  If we ever want to live in a world full of peace we are all going to have to accept what has happened in the past and move on.