On November 30, 1991, a massive explosion occurred in the North Korean city of Kanggye – likely killing as many as a thousand people.

Despite taking more lives than the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, the catastrophe remains largely unknown internationally.

In this piece, I intend to shed some light on this tragic event, drawing primarily on the memoirs of Ko Chong Song, an official who worked in Kanggye as a food supply instructor at the time of the accident.

KIM IL SUNG’S PRECIOUS

The history of the factory where the explosion took place begins in 1946, when a small plant