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SEOUL (Reuters) - Up to 3,000 people have been killed or injured after two
trains loaded with fuel collided and exploded at a North Korean station,
hours after leader Kim Jong-il had passed through, South Korea's YTN
television says.

YTN quoted witnesses in its report on Thursday while South Korea's Yonhap
news agency, which spoke of widespread destruction, also said there were
thousands of casualties. Neither Yonhap nor YTN gave a breakdown of deaths
and injuries.

Yonhap quoted sources in the Chinese city of Dandong that borders the North
as saying the explosion occurred around 1 p.m. (5:00 a.m. British time) --
nine hours after Kim's special train was reported to have passed on its way
back to Pyongyang after a visit to China.

"The station was destroyed as if hit by a bombardment and debris flew high
into the sky," Yonhap said, quoting the unidentified Chinese sources.

The sources said cargo trains carrying gasoline and liquefied petroleum gas
collided at Ryonchon station 50 km (30 miles) south of the border.

Yonhap also quoted a senior Defence Ministry official as saying the South's
military -- which eavesdrops on North Korea -- had heard about the blast
through "intelligence channels directed against the North".

There was no immediate suggestion the blast was anything other than an
accident. But the explosion came after Kim met China's new leadership during
a rare foreign visit to discuss the North's nuclear weapons plans and
tentative economic reforms.

North Korea appears to have cut international telephone lines to the area to
prevent information about the explosion getting out, Yonhap added. The North
appears to have declared a type of emergency in the area.

"We have not yet received official information on the accident. We are
trying to confirm the report," a Unification Ministry spokesman said in
Seoul. Other officials at various government agencies also had no
information.

Yonhap said the sources said people in Dandong were concerned their friends
or relatives could have been caught up on the explosion. Traders from both
sides criss-cross the border area.

A railway worker on the Chinese side of the Dandong border crossing told
Reuters he had not heard of a blast and had seen no signs of any emergency
effort under way.

"The closest station to here in North Korea is in Sinuiju (on the border),
and I would have heard it. But I didn't hear anything," he said by
telephone.

North Korea's official media broke their silence on Kim's three-day trip to
Beijing on Thursday -- strongly suggesting Kim was safely back in
Pyongyang -- but did not mention the explosion. Kim does not travel by air
when he does venture outside North Korea.

Residents in Pyongyang said by telephone there was nothing unusual in the
capital. North Korean television was broadcasting military songs and
music -- standard evening fare.