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Fire breaks out at Pyongyang hotel in N.Korea: reports

June 12, 2015

In this photo, exclusively obtained and released on June 12, 2015 by local radio station BBS, black smoke and flames billow from a bridge between the 43rd floors of Koryo Hotel in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang on the previous day. The fire had broken out at the hotel frequented by foreigners, without any information being provided on casualties or property damage, reports said on June 12, 2015. The fire appears to have been extinguished, according to The Associated Press. (Yonhap)

SEOUL, June 12 (Yonhap) — A fire has broken out at a hotel frequented by foreigners in Pyongyang, without any information being provided on casualties or property damage, reports said Friday.

On Thursday, a fire occurred at Koryo Hotel in North Korea’s capital, one of the most distinguished hotels in the North, and appears to have been extinguished, according to The Associated Press.

The report said that a witness saw “fire and lots of black smoke” come from several top floors of the hotel.

The hotel, which was opened in 1985, has two 43-story towers that are connected by a bridge on the upper floors.

Reuters reported that “plumes of black smoke” billowed from the walkway linking the two towers, showing images that it had obtained. It is not known whether the hotel was fully evacuated, it added.

There have been no official reports on the fire from North Korean media outlets.

In May last year, the North’s Korean Central News Agency reported a collapse of a 23-story apartment under construction in Pyongyang eight days after the accident took place. It did not elaborate on casualties.

Touching on the hotel fire, a Unification Ministry official said that there is nothing that the South Korean government could make comments on.

“We read media reports, but the government does not have any information,” Lim Byeong-cheol, ministry spokesman, told a press briefing.