North Korean capital covered in black smoke as large blaze burns building: Report

By Berk Kutay Gokmen

ISTANBUL (AA) – North Korea’s capital was covered in black smoke as a large fire burned down a building in central Pyongyang near the incomplete Ryugyong Hotel and the Korean War Museum, NK News reported Monday, citing satellite imagery.

The incident took place on the northern bank of the Potong River on Nov. 2, with low-resolution satellite imagery from Planet Labs showing a column of smoke rising from apparently a small factory or a warehouse at 11.50 am (0250GMT).

NASA’s Fire Information for Resource Management System detected the fire at 10.34 am that day, indicating that the blaze continued to burn for a while before being extinguished.

North Korean state media did not report anything on the incident, which made it difficult to determine the extent of the damage and casualties, but satellite images from Nov. 3-4 showed the total destruction of the building.

Jacob Bogle, a North Korea geospatial analyst, told NK News that the building was “almost certainly a small warehouse or factory,” adding that he believes “it was an accident related to normal operations such as a random spark. Maybe a chemical container caught fire.”