11 injured in subway explosion near Seoul

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — An explosion at a subway station south of Seoul injured 11 people Monday, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported.

The news agency provided no other details, and the YTN TV network said that operations later resumed at the station.

An official for the operator of the nation's train network told The Associated Press that "about 10 people" received minor injuries in an incident at a station in the city of Gunpo, but couldn't verify whether there was an explosion. He said that a part of the train's electrical insulation device was damaged.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity, citing office rules.

The incident comes as South Korean media ramped up their focus on allegations of widespread safety negligence in the country following a ferry disaster that left more than 300 people dead or missing last month. There is suspicion that the ferry set off with far more cargo than it could safely carry and that crew members abandoned passengers in need.

Earlier this month, a subway train plowed into the back of another train at a station in Seoul, inflicting mostly minor injuries to more than 240 people.

The series of incidents threw a spotlight on the infrastructure and safety as South Korea rose rapidly from the destruction of the 1950-53 Korean War to Asia's fourth biggest economy. -- AFP