Pyongyang's First Middle School



Fifty North Korean students from the state's top middle school died in an accident on their way to a retreat two months ago, it has been revealed.

News reports said the third-graders were from Pyongyang's First Middle School, which former president Kim Jong-il attended.

They were on their way to a new camp called Songdowon International Children's Union Camp in Wonsan, Gangwon Province, on May 24. The camp had state leader Kim Jong-un's support in its bid to be recognized as world's best camp facility for children.

Reports said a bus carrying the students ― mostly children of high-ranking state officials ― was travelling along a narrow road in the Masikryong Mountains. The bus had detoured to avoid a highway linking Pyongyang and Wonsan, where three tunnels are often blocked due to landslides or rock falls.

The detour road had no guard rails and has only one lane each way. The bus plunged into a valley, and the students, none of whom were confirmed as wearing seatbelts, died at the scene.





Masikryong Mountains nests Masikryong Ski Resort, the state's high-end resort facility.



North Korea has remained silent about the accident, the reports say.

On May 2, The Korean Central News said, "The state's children are exulting over news of the camp's completion, but South Koreans are now wailing over their loss of children in the Sewol ferry disaster."

The North soon faced its own disaster when a residential building in Pyongyang collapsed on May 13, killing more than 300 people.

Because the student tragedy happened only 11 days later, the government decided to keep the accident secret.