The elephant in the room on the North Korea train collision story is the possibility that it was an assassination attempt against Kim Jong-Il.

Haven't heard this possibility even breathed anywhere, even on the BBC.

...well, the BBC at least raises the possibility on their website:

Correspondents say there are various theories about the explosion; there is speculation that it may have been an attack aimed at Mr Kim though South Korean officials have dismissed this.

...okay, the Guardian mentions it too. I take it back.

...the Post has this:

North Korea's ruler, Kim Jong Il, had passed through the area on a specially fitted train only nine hours before en route back to the capital, Pyongyang, after an unannounced four-day summit in Beijing. The talks were aimed at restarting negotiations to dismantle the North's nuclear weapons programs that have been deadlocked for months. Though the timing of Kim's travel through the area raised speculation that the explosions might have been the result of a failed assassination attempt, U.S. and South Korea officials dismissed this hypothesis as unlikely.

"All indications at the moment are that the cause of the explosion was purely accidental," said one U.S. official.

What is this "all indications" baloney? I could understand if this was a reference to internal US intelligence or something, but I seriously doubt that anyone really knows what happened. I'm sure that the current administration would love to chop the head off of one of the "axis" countries, though. If this is a botched covert action on the part of the US, we're all in some serious danger.