SEOUL, April 26 (UPI) -- Is the tragic train explosion prompting North Korea to open its firmly closed society to the outside world?
This is the question of the moment as the communist country has showed signs of lifting the world's last iron curtain in the wake of last week's huge train blast that left at least 161 dead and some 1,300 others injured.
The self-proclaimed "great leader" Kim Jong Il swallowed his much-touted pride of "juche" (self-reliance or self-identity) and appealed for outside help for the disaster victims. In a departure from its past practices, the North's regime quickly acknowledged the incident and issued a rare public plea for outside relief aid. The reclusive country had seldom acknowledged accidents in the past.
Some analysts in Seoul saw the move as a possible sign that the North is moving to open its society. North Koreans suffer from starvation and repression.
"The train explosion might have inflicted a heavy shock to the North Korean leadership," said Nam Sung-wook, a North Korea specialist at Korea University. "The North is left with no option but to seek outside help to cope with the disaster," he said.
Paik Hak-soon, a North Korea analyst at Seoul's private Sejong Institute, said the incident surely lead the isolated nation to seek opening of its doors to the outside. "The massive explosion prompted North Koreans to realize the path that they have to follow," he said.
Analysts say the incident would be used as an occasion to narrow the psychological gap between North Korea and the international community. Relations have been damaged by Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions and human rights abuses.
The international community -- from rival South Korea to the United States, which sees North Korea as part of an "axis of evil" -- responded promptly to North Korea's unprecedented plea, promising emergency assistance. International relief workers rushed to the explosion site immediately after the train blast was confirmed.
"The contacts with foreign relief workers would help North Koreans improve their recognition of the outside world," said Park Hyung-joong, a researcher at South Korea's state-run Korea Institute for National Unification. "Even the North's military that has strongly opposed openness may realize the need of opening its doors to the outside world in the wake of the brisk international relief aid," he said.
North Korea acknowledged the train blast relatively quickly, only two days after it happened in the northwest North Korean town of Ryongchon, about 12 miles from China, on Thursday afternoon when two fuel-laden trains collided and exploded.
The blast took place nine hours after Kim Jong Il's special train passed through Ryongchon on his way back from China, which touched off speculation that the explosion may have been an attempt to assassinate the North Korean dictator. South Korea and the United States ruled out terrorism.
North Korea's state-run media also said it was an accident caused by human error during the shunting of wagons loaded with ammonium nitrate fertilizer and fuel tanker wagons.
The train explosion was caused by "electrical contact caused by carelessness during the shunting of wagons loaded with ammonium nitrate fertilizer," the North's Central News Agency said. The statement was unusual for the Stalinist government, which controls information tightly, both to the world and its own people.
The (North's) Korean Central Broadcasting Station, a radio channel North Korean citizens are allowed to listen to, reported the incident, saying foreign nations and organizations have offered relief aid. In an unprecedented and impressive move, the North also invited a group of foreign diplomats and aid workers to the scene of the explosion.
The United States, China, Japan and many other countries and international relief organizations are quickly responding to calls from North Korea for help in dealing with the disaster.
China, the North's closest ally, is taking the lead in providing assistance to North Korea. The first outside help arrived from China. Japan also announced plans to contribute $100,000 worth of relief supplies. It will be Japan's first aid to North Korea since October 2000.
In Seoul, the government and civic activists have launched massive campaigns to help the Northern brethren, in a rare show of unity. The government has offered a first installment of $1 million worth of relief goods for the victims.
State-run KBS TV carried live a three-hour program on Monday, urging South Koreans to contribute money to help the North Korean victims, an unusual move in a country that still has a tough anti-communist law that crack down North Korea sympathizers.
The country's Red Cross and other civic groups have launched fund-raising campaigns to help the North Korean victims. Prodded by the mood, the conservative opposition Grand National Party that vows a tough stance against the North has also joined the campaign.
"It would be the biggest-ever contacts between North Korea and the outside world since the foundation of the communist regime in Pyongyang five decades ago," a senior Unification Ministry official said.
But the North seems still reluctant to a broader opening. North Korea rejected a South Korean offer Monday to send emergency medical supplies overland across the two countries' heavily fortified frontier.
South Korea proposed to use a cross-border route to send relief supplies to the disaster site as quickly as possible. But the North rejected to open the highly militarized border for South Korean relief supplies. North Korea instead proposed a meeting to discuss relief on Tuesday in the nearby North Korean city of Kaesong.
In another sign that the North remains unchanged yet, it held gala festival marking army foundation day on Sunday despite the disastrous explosion. High-profile military leaders joined rank-and-file soldiers in "merry dances" at a festival in central Pyongyang, according to KNCA.
