Episode 39: Iri Station Explosion

Dark Korea — Korean True Crime & Mysteries · Aug 21, 2026 · 19m

Thirty tons of explosives sat in a freight car in the middle of a Korean city for a day and a half. It should never have stopped there at all — the rulebook said explosive cargo passes straight through a station, no waiting. But it did wait, and Korean investigators concluded it waited because of an envelope: the informal fee that made trains move in 1977, and that the man guarding this one could not pay enough of. On the night of November 11th, 1977, that man went into the dark freight car, lit a candle, stood it on a box of dynamite, and climbed into his sleeping bag. At 9:15 p.m., the…