ROK and Inter-Korean relations
April 2010
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N.Korea Took 'Gratifying Revenge' on South
A senior North Korean party leader has reportedly announced that the North Korean military took "gratifying revenge" on South Korea.
The Daily NK, an Internet media outlet, quoted a senior North Korean party leader as making the remark in a political lecture for party members in Onsong, North Hamgyong Province on April 24.
[Media] [Cheonan]
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Designing a distinctive national brand
South Korea: Finding its place on the world stage
Christopher Graves
Before the Internet, before airlines, before movies, our impressions of foreign lands were created through a mix of oral folklore, historical accounts, and travel writing. For centuries, the Western world’s notions of China, India, and all points between were derived almost entirely from the fragmentary accounts of Marco Polo and a handful of itinerant traders and Jesuit missionaries. Some of these accounts reflected keen observation. Others were the purest fantasy. All were refracted through the biases of the original observer, then again through the biases of those who retold their tales.
In 1882, author William Elliot Griffis first coined the term hermit nation in portraying Korea as reclusive.
[Image]
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Parents show mixed reactions to Cheonan mourning at elementary schools
While some parents support teaching students about the process of grieving, others say the excessive emphasis is reminiscent of school programs during the military dictatorship
A gloomy mood has recently spread among the first grade students at “B” Elementary School in Busan’s Haeundae District. This is because the puppet play they had been practicing to show off to their parents at the school athletics festival on May 1 has been canceled. Moreover, the students are also disappointed that the athletic festival for their first year of school will be carried out without their parents.
he response from parents at these schools to these events that have been place since the sinking of the Cheonan has been mixed. One parent, Kim Hwan-sik, 40, praised the school for informing the children about the sacrifice of the men of the Cheonan and teaching them about the process of grieving. Some others, however, have expressed disquiet, wondering if perhaps this was reminiscent of when they went to elementary school under the military dictators. Another parent, Ahn Hyeong-cheol, 41, remarked that children can also be sad with pure hearts, but it seems that the school is leading a forced atmosphere of mourning with even young students. Parent Lee Hyeong-sang, 40, wondered what a semi-forced collection whose immediate goal was not clear had to do with mourning the loss of the men of the Cheonan.
[Cheonan] [ROK military] [Manipulation]
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S. Korea to develop unmanned spy aircraft by 2014
SEOUL, April 28 (Yonhap) -- South Korea said Wednesday it will develop an unmanned spy aircraft by 2014 for deployment at army and marine units to bolster its surveillance of North Korea.
The unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) project costing 30 billion won (US$27 million) was approved at a defense ministry meeting on arms procurement, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration said in a statement.
[Military balance]
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Linguistic differences between North and South
Some words and phrases which vary
part 2
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New Threat from N.Korea's 'Asymmetrical' Warfare
North Korea has over the last 10 to 20 years been developing what is called an "asymmetric strategy," which involves focusing on areas, however small, where South Korea is inferior to the North or lacking altogether. One part of this strategy is submarines. The North is believed to have a fleet of around 70 submarines, including some 20 1,830-t Romeo-class subs and 20 330-t Shark-class subs.
The subs had been considered only a minor threat, due to their age, noisy engines and inability to operate in the shallow coastal waters of the West Sea. But the sinking of the South Korean Navy corvette Cheonan could radically change that perception.
[Military balance] [Cheonan]
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Human Torpedoes' Are the North's Secret Naval Weapon
South Korean military officials are said to be focusing their attention on "human torpedoes" deployed by North Korea military after testimony by defectors that could link them to the sinking of the Navy corvette Cheonan on March 26.
Human torpedoes trace their origins to the Japanese underwater suicide bombers known as "kaiten" who were put into action at the end of World War II. North Korea's human torpedo units belong to the 17th Sniper Corps and are deployed in both the East and West seas at the brigade level. The units are made up of elite soldiers, just like South Korea's UDT/SEAL teams, and were fed very well even when the rest of North Korea's people were starving due to economic hardships, according to defectors.
The North is said to have come up with the human torpedoes after its defeat by South Korea in the first and second naval battles in the West Sea, which forced it to realize that it cannot win by conventional means.
Park Sun-young, a lawmaker with the Liberty Forward Party, told the National Assembly on April 8 a three-man team aboard a Seal Deliver Vehicle could have sunk the Cheonan. SDVs are used to transport commandos under water. Some military experts say an SDV laden with explosives could have approached the Cheonan to launch a suicide bomb attack.
But that is far from certain. Many experts say it would have been difficult to launch a human torpedo attack on the ship, considering the depth, speed of the underwater current and the heights of waves at the site of the tragedy. "SDVs are very slow and there is a low possibility that such vessels were used in an attack," Defense Minister Kim Tae-young told lawmakers earlier this month
[Cheonan] [Military balance]
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Behind the front line, a shrouded military
‘My son died for nothing. He was a good boy, but the military kept saying he must have had some personal problems.’
April 29, 2010
When the Cheonan sank last month, the initial reaction was shock and sadness, which quickly gave way to rage: with a government accused of dragging its feet, but also with a military that seemed unprepared for a North Korean attack.
But anger with the military runs deeper than over a single event. Mistrust of the institution is widespread because it has failed to open itself up, using the excuse of national security, while the rest of the country has embraced democracy.
South Korea’s military dictatorship may be a thing of the past, but the North’s constant saber rattling in the form of nuclear tests, missile launches, spy incidents and the occasional skirmish continue to give Korea’s men at arms an immediate relevance - and an excuse to conceal things from the public. That right to secrecy is enshrined in the National Security Law, which places restrictions even on regular citizens’ freedom of speech for the sake of preventing enemy subversion, but is even more of a cloak for the armed forces. It’s the legal manifestation of the bubble in which the military operates, isolating it from the massive changes the rest of Korean society has undergone. To date, for example, no civilian has ever been named defense minister.
Six military legal officers filed a suit with the Constitutional Court arguing that the military’s regulations are unconstitutional. In return, they were reprimanded to various degrees, some even receiving dishonorable discharges, effectively preventing them from opening a private law practice despite their experience. Such a penalty also keeps them from being appointed as judges or prosecutors in civilian courts even if they pass the national bar exam. The Defense Ministry said the officers in question had violated military regulations that dictated absolute obedience, that their conduct was unbecoming, and that by violating the chain of command they had brought dishonor upon the military.
“I did expect to get some kind of punishment such as a suspension, but I didn’t think I would lose everything,” said Park Ji-ung, one of the discharged officers. “I thought that times had changed to such an extent that not everyone would play deaf.”
Park has passed the bar exam but cannot register as a lawyer. Last week, the Seoul District Court ruled that his discharge was legal and dismissed his lawsuit. He has appealed the court’s decision.
Of course, it hasn’t helped that in an age when developed countries have built armies of career-soldiers and volunteers, Korea still practices universal conscription, forcing Spartan-like living conditions on a generation that has grown up in relative comfort.
[NSL] [ROK military][Cheonan] [Threat]
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Korean torpedo
Thursday, April 29, 2010
WHAT IS to be done when a rogue state commits an act of war, killing scores of people, but tries to avoid retaliation by denying responsibility? For South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, the answer begins with a very deliberate investigation. It has now been more than a month since the March 26 sinking of a South Korean corvette after an explosion; a week of mourning is now underway for the 40 sailors killed and the six still missing. From the beginning, an attack by North Korea was suspected. But only this week did South Korea's defense minister say publicly that a torpedo was the likely cause of the explosion -- and he didn't say where the torpedo came from.
Even that cautious statement was quickly played down by the Obama administration, which is participating in an international investigation of the incident. "I think it was a conditional statement," said State Department spokesman Philip Crowley. "I don't know that the investigation has arrived at that final judgment."
Investigators have yet to find hard evidence, such as scraps of a torpedo.
[Cheonan] [Media] [Double standards] [Evidence]
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UN Sanctions 'Not the Answer' to Cheonan Sinking
Some South Korean government officials are skeptical that it would do much good to ask the UN Security Council to impose sanctions against North Korea if it is found that the North was behind the sinking of the Navy corvette Cheonan on March 26. They say since the North is already under harsh UNSC sanctions over its two nuclear tests, any further steps would have a negligible impact.
"Many people consider UNSC sanctions a panacea if the North is found to have been behind the Cheonan's sinking. But I can't agree," a senior government official said. "At the moment, we should keep all military and non-military options on the table, including UNSC sanctions."
[Cheonan] [Sanctions]
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On N.Korea, S.Korea, and the meaning of ‘love thy neighbor’
Park No-ja, Professor of Korean studies at the University of Oslo, Norway
Watching news related to inter-Korean relations these days makes the skin crawl. It is difficult to find any sense of responsibility in the actions or words of either North Korea or South Korea.
North Korea’s seizure and acquisition of South Korean real estate at Mt. Kumgang, which ignores international standards, could be seen as “a self-oriented goal.” If North Korea treats investors’ property in this manner, which country’s investors will lend it the money in this real-life situation? Meanwhile, malicious propaganda against North Korea is gushing out of the Western media, yet North Korea appears to be “helping” its critics.
[Cheonan]
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China, Russia to Get Cheonan Results
Funeral for Sailors to Be Held Today
By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
South Korea will report the results of an ongoing investigation into the sinking of the Navy ship Cheonan to China and Russia and consult with them on the possibility of referring the issue to the U.N. Security Council (UNSC), a government source said Wednesday.
The move comes as investigators point to a North Korean torpedo attack as the likely cause of the deadly incident that claimed the lives of 46 sailors.
[Cheonan]
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North adopts new war invasion strategy: source
April 27, 2010
The North Korean military has recently altered its wartime contingency plans against South Korea to concentrate on attacking the Seoul metropolitan region, a military source said yesterday. South Korean commanders will meet next month to discuss the change and their response to it.
With the new plan, the North would concentrate its early fire on Seoul and neighboring areas, where most of South Korea’s social and economic infrastructure is located.
[Military balance]
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N.Korea's Madness Must Be Stopped
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il watched a massive drill marking the 78th anniversary of the North Korean Army on Sunday and said it "has grown into a strong army fortified with an unchangeable determination to guard the leader and to become bombs and blow themselves up." The North Korean military showed off long-range artillery capable of hitting Seoul. Gen. Ri Yong-ho, the current chief of the North Korean Army's General Staff, vowed to "use all means, including nuclear deterrents," if South Korea and the U.S. "encroach even 0.001 mm into North Korean territory.
How can the leader of a country even think of uttering such crass nonsense? Only Kim Jong-il can say such things without flinching. That is the nature of North Korea, a sponsor of terrorism, and that is the true face of its leader. A madman issues mad orders, which his mad vassals put into action. But Kim's comments cannot be dismissed merely as the comments of a lunatic, because he believes his country's strength lies precisely in such actions.
[Hysteria][Military balance] [Takeover]
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N.Korea's History of Double-Dealing
In November last year North Korea dispatched two agents to the South disguised as defectors on a mission to assassinate Hwang Jang-yop, a former secretary of the Workers' Party Central Committee who defected to the South in 1997. At the time, Pyongyang was launching a charm offensive to persuade the South to hold an inter-Korean summit.
North Korea had been trying a conciliatory line since August, when it dispatched a delegation to the funeral of former President Kim Dae-jung. Encouraged by a secret Singapore meeting in October between Labor Minister Yim Tae-hee and Kim Yang-gon, the director of the North's United Front Department, Pyongyang a month later invited a South Korean delegation to the border city of Kaesong and discussed details of a summit.
[Overtures]
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Emergency Meeting of Commanding Officers Next Week
The military will convene an emergency meeting of top commanding officers next week to discuss a response to the sinking of the Navy corvette Cheonan near the maritime border with North Korea in the West Sea.
[Cheonan]
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[Editorial] Sobering lessons to learn from the Cheonan
The bow of the Cheonan was raised two days ago, but the bodies of six missing sailors have yet to be found. The government, after suspending the search for the missing and processing them as missing, decided to begin official funeral proceedings. It is our wish that the 46 sailors who lost their lives during this unforeseen tragedy will continue on to a peaceful eternal rest, and we express our deepest sympathy and consolation to the bereaved families.
The task that remains is ensuring that the sacrifices of the victims of the Cheonan were not in vain. The first step is a clear exposition of the cause of the incident. Due to the unclear explanation given by military officials early on in the incident, an array of speculation has continued to spread. Now that both the bow and stern have been raised, this speculation must be wiped out through a scientific and precise investigation. If not, the danger exists that this incident will amplify internal divisions within our society as it meshes with the regional elections.
To begin, the civilian-military investigation team, after examining the severed section, left open the possibility of either a mine or a torpedo, saying it is highly possible the ship was torn apart by an underwater, non-contact explosion. We hope that in the future, the team also produces a final investigation report that all citizens can trust.
The direct cause of this incident, and concrete evidence that North Korea was involved, can be revealed through an investigation, but the fact of the matter is that it is impossible to deny that this incident is tied to the reality of the division of Korea, regardless of whether North Korea is directly implicated. This is because had the reality of our division ceased to exist, there would have been no reason for the Cheonan to patrol in the area. Accordingly, in order to ensure that the deaths of the sailors on the Cheonan are not in vain, it is also important to work to overcome the national division and ease inter-Korean tensions.
In this regard, we must keep an eye on any move, by North Korea or by South Korea, to use the incident to heighten inter-Korean tensions. This is because as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pointed out, talk of war on the Korean Peninsula or actions or incorrect judgments that could lead to conflict will not help anyone. Neither the attitude of South Korean conservatives, who are talking of rash responses and pinning the cause of the incident on North Korea despite the fact that no evidence has been uncovered to confirm this, nor North Korea, which has confiscated South Korean property at Mt. Kumgang and is not turning down opportunities to make warlike statements against South Korea, are appropriate. The pressing issues now are to stop this incident from being used by those in North Korea and South Korea who are looking to serve their own interests by preying on national division and to put inter-Korean relations back on track.
[False balance] [Cheonan]
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Korea’s image trails Japan, U.S. and even China
Surveys show consumers abroad don’t get brands’ high-tech buzz
April 27, 2010
International consumers’ opinions of South Korean products have improved over the years, but they still think local products are less than three-fourths as good as products made in other advanced countries, according to a state trade promoter yesterday.
In its 2009 report on South Korean brands, the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency said if the products of such advanced countries as the U.S., Japan and Germany are valued at $100 on average, South Korean products of the same quality are valued at $71.50.
The figure, from a survey by Kotra of 8,230 people in 31 countries, was up 3.3 percentage points from a 2008 survey. The figure rose 0.5 percentage points and 1.4 percentage points in 2008 and 2007, respectively, from the year earlier.
Kotra said the improvement in South Korean products’ image was attributable to Korea’s enhanced global reputation, which it said came from the country’s “successful” response to the global economic crisis and its planned hosting of the G-20 Summit in November.
Many experts and corporate officials, however, said another survey pointed to an even larger image gap between South Korean and advanced countries’ products. In a February survey, Anholt, the world’s leading nation branding evaluator, ranked South Korea 31st out of 50 countries, behind even China and India.
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The Anholt-GfK Roper Nation Brands Index
The way a country is perceived can make a critical difference to the success of its business, trade and tourism efforts, as well as its diplomatic and cultural relations with other nations.
Now, through a partnership with renowned government advisor and author Simon Anholt, GfK Roper Public Affairs & Corporate Communications provides an expanded Nation Brands Index, the only analytical ranking of the world's nation brands.
[Image]
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Cheonan Probe Focuses on Torpedo Debris (sic)
A civilian-military team investigating the sinking of the Navy corvette Cheonan on Sunday inspected the ripped-off part of the ship's bow and released findings of a second probe attributing the wreck to a "non-contact underwater explosion" or bubble jet.
In a first opinion released after inspecting the torn part of the stern on April 16, the team said there were no signs of an internal explosion, metal fatigue or the ship striking a reef. The Cheonan sank in the West Sea on March 26.
In the announcement Sunday, the team narrowed the cause down, ruling out a contact explosion. Defense Minister Kim Tae-young interpreted this as meaning the likeliest cause was a torpedo attack.
Investigators will now need to find shrapnel from a torpedo. The military has collected about 330 pieces of debris from the scene of the shipwreck and has since been analyzing them but has reportedly failed to find any parts of a torpedo or a mine so far.
With the salvage of the ship finished on Saturday, investigators under the command of a vice admiral Sunday gave top priority to finding torpedo shrapnel.
But even if it is found, it will be still difficult to finger North Korea as the culprit because most North Korean torpedoes were made in China or the former Soviet Union, experts said.
No decisive evidence has been found to indicate the involvement of a North Korean submarine. The only circumstantial evidence found so far is that around the time of the sinking, two North Korean Shark-class submarines temporarily disappeared from radar surveillance from their base at Cape Bipagot about 80 km from where the ship sank near Yeonpyeong Island.
[Cheonan] [Media]
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Torpedo 'Probable Cause' of Cheonan Sinking
A torpedo has been determined as the probable cause of the sinking of the Navy corvette Cheonan, according to a preliminary inspection of the split surface of the ship after it was salvaged from the West Sea. Defense Minister Kim Tae-young told reporters Sunday, "Basically, I think the bubble jet effect caused by a heavy torpedo is the most likely cause." Kim added the ongoing investigation is looking into other causes as well.
[Cheonan]
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Ship Attack Shows South Korean Quandary Over How to Respond to North
By CHOE SANG-HUN
Published: April 25, 2010
SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea’s defense minister on Sunday said a torpedo attack was the most likely cause for the sinking of a South Korean warship that killed at least 40 sailors last month, a statement that inched the country closer to placing blame on North Korea and added urgency to the question of how the South might respond.
[Cheonan] [Media]
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Old sea mines still have plenty of spark
Saturday, April 24, 2010
North Korea's denial of involvement in the sinking of a South Korean navy ship from an "external explosion" -- a naval mine or torpedo -- might be true if the focus is on what North Korea has done recently [news stories, April 17 and 18].
But the South Korean corvette might well have struck a mine laid during the Korean War, when, with help from the Chinese, North Korea laid many thousands of mines along the coast of the Korean Peninsula.
More than 100,000 sea mines of all types and sizes are strewn throughout the world's oceans, seas and littorals.
[Cheonan]
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South Korea Arrests 2 From North in Alleged Assassination Plot
By CHOE SANG-HUN
Published: April 21, 2010
SEOUL, South Korea — South Korean security officials said Wednesday that they had arrested two North Korean agents who had posed as defectors in a plot to assassinate the highest-ranking North Korean defector by slitting his throat.
Hwang Jang-yop, a former high-ranking North Korean official, defected in 1997.
The defector, Hwang Jang-yop, a former North Korean Workers’ Party secretary, has bitterly criticized the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, since his defection in 1997. Mr. Hwang tutored Mr. Kim and helped create the country’s ruling philosophy of juche, or national self-reliance.
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South Korea won't retaliate alone for ship sinking
By Jonathan Thatcher
Reuters
Friday, April 23, 2010; 1:54 AM
SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea on Friday gave the clearest signal to date it had no plan to launch a revenge attack if it turns out, as widely suspected, North Korea sank one of its navy vessels last month near their disputed border.
The reclusive North says it had nothing to do with the downing of the Cheonan, which sank after an explosion, killing 46 sailors. A South Korean military intelligence report leaked to the local media said the North had almost certainly torpedoed the ship.
"Just as the investigation is being conducted with international cooperation, we'll try to cooperate with the international community in taking necessary measures when the results are out," President Lee Myung-bak told a group of visiting foreign journalists.
The issue is a fraught with risks for Lee.
If he were to launch a military attack on his impoverished neighbor, it would be the South that would come off worse, with investors likely to take fright at the threat of conflict across the Cold War's last frontier just as the economy is recovering fast from the global financial crisis.
[Cheonan] [Media] [Military balance]
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If You Can't Retaliate, You Weren't Attacked
By Andrei Lankov
Published: April 8, 2010
SEOUL — On the evening of March 26, Cheonan, a 1,200-ton South Korean corvette, was on patrol in coastal waters near the disputed border with North Korea when its stern was suddenly torn away by a powerful explosion.
[Cheonan] [Military option] [MISCOM]
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South Korea’s G-generation: A nation within a nation, detached from unification
April 13th, 2010
Author: Emma Campbell, ANU
It is hard enough to be a twenty-something in the best of times, but South Korea’s twenty-somethings (the yishipdae) are having it particularly tough. This new generation, the ‘G-generation’, is the focus of critical attention across Korea’s intellectual and media forums. They are Korea’s most highly educated generation, with unique international experience. They are the first generation whose lives have only spanned post-1987 democratic South Korea.
[Unification]
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Stern of Sunken Ship Moved to Shallower Waters
Part of the stern of the sunken Navy corvette Cheonan was pulled to the surface on Monday afternoon, 17 days after it sank in an unexplained explosion on March 26. The Navy hauled it about 4.6 km to shallower waters off Baeknyeong Island.
A chimney, two Harpoon anti-ship missiles, and a torpedo tube are missing, suggesting that the ship went under in a powerful external explosion rather than an internal explosion, collision with a rock or metal fatigue. But it was hard to determine the exact cause of the sinking as the ripped-off part along the welded seam has not yet been completely exposed.
[Cheonan]
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Lee Urges Global Cooperation on NK Threat
By Na Jeong-ju
Staff Reporter
President Lee Myung-bak called for more global attention on North Korea's nuclear threats in Washington, D.C., Monday, saying South Korea will seek closer cooperation with the international community for a peaceful resolution of the North Korean nuclear issue.
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Naval Disaster to Affect Top Military Brass
By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
Military authorities have been under fire for their mishandling of the sinking of the naval ship Cheonan on March 26. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), as well as the defense minister and top naval commanders concerned are expected to face dismissal, to take responsibility for the naval disaster that killed two sailors and left 44 others missing in action.
[Cheonan]
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Sound Waves from Cheonan Blast Detected in Faraway Gangwon
Sound waves from the blast that ripped apart the Navy corvette Cheonan on March 26 were detected as far away as Cheolwon, Gangwon Province, making it equivalent to 260 kg of TNT. That is 44 percent more powerful than the initial intensity (170 kg to 180 kg of TNT) of the blast gauged by sensors on Baeknyeong Island.
[Cheonan]
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N.Korea Ratchets Up Threats Against South
North Korea is ratcheting up threats against South Korea. In yet another message on Saturday, the chief of the North Korean delegation to the inter-Korean military talks again demanded that South Korean private organizations stop sending anti-North leaflets.
[Inversion]
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Public’s faith in military authorities shaken after Cheonan sinking
A poll also indicates that 58 percent of South Koreans feel the ruling government’s response to the sinking of the Cheonan has been inadequate
The results of a survey reveal that six out of ten South Koreans regard several announcements made by military officials about the sinking of the Cheonan with distrust. Moreover, more citizens agree with the principle of “restraining the unilateral actions of the ruling government” over “increasing the scale of governmental power to promote the stability of national affairs” ahead of the June 2 regional elections.
In a survey conducted Saturday by Research Plus at the behest of the Hankyoreh, 59.9 percent of those surveyed say they do not trust the military’s statements issued on the findings of its investigation into the sinking of the Cheonan. Only 34.9 percent say that they trust the military officials. Some 57.9 percent also said that the ruling government has not responded effectively to the stinking of the Cheonan, while only 34.3 percent said they think the government has carried out an effective response.
[Cheonan]
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Public losing faith in authority after sinking
April 12, 2010
More than two weeks after the mysterious sinking of the Navy corvette Cheonan, the public still doesn’t know what happened - or who to believe in the government, military and media.
“Popular distrust is snowballing,” said Representative Kim Jang-soo of the Grand National Party, who served as the minister of national defense from 2006 to 2008. “When the military doesn’t disclose information that is confidential or that it deems irrelevant, people think they’re hiding something,” he said. “Then when the military reacts to public pressure and makes a disclosure, the public thinks something more is hidden.”
Although President Lee Myung-bak has stressed repeatedly that the truth must be disclosed to the nation, authorities provided conflicting information or withheld information and released it only after the public demanded it.
Public distrust has grown so deep that the Financial Times observed that the aftermath of the Cheonan tragedy has revived a tendency for South Koreans to view the state as “a monster.”
Speculation has grown about North Korea’s involvement, but no hard evidence implicating Pyongyang has been made public.
[Evidence] [Cheonan]
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Prosecutors arrest SKorean for spying for NKorea
By HYUNG-JIN KIM
The Associated Press
Monday, April 12, 2010; 2:14 AM
SEOUL, South Korea -- A South Korean man has been arrested for allegedly spying for Pyongyang and working with its military to kidnap activists who helped North Koreans defect, officials said Monday.
The 55-year-old man, who was arrested last week and who denies the charges, is accused of taking up the spy job after meeting a female North Korean agent in 1999 in China's eastern Shandong province, where he was believed to be engaged in drug trafficking, the official said on condition of anonymity because an investigation was ongoing.
The man, surnamed Kim, allegedly traveled to Pyongyang in 2000 for 15 days of spy training and received $10,000 and 4.4 pounds (2 kilograms) of narcotics from the North, the official said.
The suspect was sent back to China and started abducting South Korean activists who were helping North Koreans defect from their impoverished, authoritarian homeland. The kidnapped Koreans were sent to the North in cooperation with the female agent, the official said.
The man also kidnapped North Korean defectors hiding in China and forced them back to the North. He also tried to gather information on South Korean intelligence officers operating in Chinese towns near North Korea, the official said.
[Espionage]
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Building a new elite for the post-Kim world
April 9th, 2010
Author: Andrei Lankov, Kookmin University
When considering the future of North and South Korea, we can see that the time has come to raise an alternative elite, the kind that meets the expectations of the modern world and has no relationship with the Kim Jong Il regime.
However, it is impossible to participate in any political activity or gain a great deal of knowledge while inside North Korea. For North Korean intellectuals with a sense of the modern world, the birthplace of the alternative elite is the defector community in South Korea.
[Takeover]
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NK Warns Seoul of Propaganda Activities
North Korea's military warned Saturday that it would take "necessary measures" if South Korea does not draw up plans to prevent propaganda activities such as sending leaflets to the communist state, Yonhap News Agency reported.
The two Koreas agreed in 2004 to stop decades of propaganda warfare across the Demilitarized Zone dividing the nations, but the South Korean government says it cannot prevent activists from sending the leaflets, citing freedom of speech.
"We will take corresponding decisive measures soon unless the South side takes an understandable measure to discontinue the despicable psychological smear campaign and formally notifies the North side of it," the North's Korean Central News Agency cited comments by military officials.
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Salvaging of Sunken Ship Could Be Completed Next Weekend
Bad weather conditions are still preventing efforts to salvage a South Korean naval warship that sank in the Yellow Sea last month, with salvage operations likely to be completed by next weekend, Yonhap News Agency reported Saturday, quoting military officials.
"We had originally planned to wrap up the salvage operation by April 15, but the plan has been continuously delayed due to the bad weather conditions near the site," a high-ranking official at the Defense Ministry said, asking not to be named.
"It seems that we could salvage the ship as early as (April) 17 or 18," the official said.
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Court finds Han Myeong-sook not guilty on bribery charges
The court stated that Korea Express CEO likely gave false testimony after fierce interrogation by prosecutors
Former Prime Minister Han Myeong-sook, who was indicted on charges of accepting $50 thousand from former Korea Express CEO Kwak Young-wook, was found not guilty during her first trial.
?At the sentencing hearing, the Seoul Central District Court did not recognize the charge itself, namely that she accepted $50 thousand, and criticized the problem points of the prosecutors’ investigation one by one. Accordingly, criticism of “targeted investigations” aimed at key opposition figures is likely to increase.??
The bench listed three points of contention in the case: first, whether she accepted $50 thousand, second, whether lobbying for job assurances took place, and third, whether the money was given with the expectation of reciprocity. The court stated, however, that so long as the first point, that she accepted $50 thousand, remains unproven, the other points correspondingly do not require judgment. This means the prosecutors did not pass the first step in proving guilt. The court also strongly criticized the attitude of the prosecutors. They said it was possible Kwak, unable to withstand threats and fierce interrogation from prosecutors, gave false testimony.?
[Corruption]
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Speculation Over NK Attack on Cheonan Mounting
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter
The government has asked lawmakers not to come to premature conclusions over the primary cause of the sinking of the naval vessel Cheonan until the government-led, multinational team releases investigation results with concrete evidence.
In spite of the renewed requests for patience, the speculation that North Korea might have played a role in the unexplained explosion continues unabated.
If supportive evidence emerges, experts predict that U.N.-led sanctions are likely to be the most realistic steps for the Korean government to take.
[Cheonan]
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North Korea denies involved in South ship sinking
Reuters
Saturday, April 10, 2010; 4:24 AM
SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea has denied involvement in the sinking of a South Korean navy ship that broke in half after an explosion last month, leaving 44 sailors still missing, a newspaper reported on Saturday.
Tensions mounted on the Korean peninsula after the ship sank near a disputed maritime border between the two Koreas that has been the scene of deadly clashes in previous years.
The cause of the explosion has not been identified, but South Korea's defense minister has said the ship may have been struck by a North Korean torpedo.
The head of a North Korean military delegation visiting China told Chinese officials in Beijing on March 30 that Pyongyang had nothing to do with the sinking, South Korea's Dong-a Ilbo newspaper quoted a diplomatic source as saying.
[Cheonan]
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N.Korean Subs 'Hard to Track All the Time'
Defense Minister Kim Tae-young on Thursday again declined to rule out that North Korea had a hand in the sinking of the Navy corvette Cheonan on March 26. "North Korea has 70 submarines. We can detect most of them by constantly tracking their whereabouts, but it's impossible to detect all of their movements in all weathers," Kim told lawmakers in the National Assembly.
[Cheonan]
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Suspicion of N.Korean Hand in Sinking Mounts
Military insiders believe there is mounting evidence that the Navy corvette Cheonan was hit by a North Korean torpedo before it broke in two and sank in waters near the de-facto inter-Korean border. But the Defense Ministry and military authorities insist on the importance of establishing the exact cause of the shipwreck before any conclusions are announced.
A senior military officer on Thursday said, "There is a 60 to 70 percent chance that the ship was hit" by a North Korean torpedo. But he added the question remains whether any evidence was left behind.
[Cheonan] [Media] [Evidence]
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One Third of Korean Students Sleep in Class
By Kang Shin-who
Staff Reporter
It's not a secret that many Korean students doze off during classes. But how serious is it? A survey by a Japanese institute says it's one in three.
The Tokyo-based Japanese youth research center, a unit of the country's education ministry, surveyed a total of 6,173 high school students in Korea, Japan, China and the United States between June and November, last year.
The survey found that 32.3 percent of Korean high schoolers nap during classes. Japan posted the highest ratio of 45.1 percent ? the figure was 20.8 percent in the U.S. and 4.7 percent for China.
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'Too Early to Apologize Over Incident'
By Na Jeong-ju
Staff Reporter
Prime Minister Chung Un-chan said Wednesday the government will offer a public apology, if needed, over the sinking of the 1,200-ton frigate Cheonan near the sea border with North Korea on March 26.
He, however, made it clear that the apology will be possible only after the military finds the exact cause of the naval disaster, which killed one sailor and left 45 others missing from the 104-member crew.
``We will apologize, if we have to. However, the first thing to do is to find out why the ship sank,'' Chung said during an interpellation session at the National Assembly.
Questioned if he would ask President Lee Myung-bak to apologize to the public over the tragedy, the prime minister said, ``Whoever apologizes, it will come after the ongoing investigation to reveal the ins and outs of the incident is completely finished. Please wait until then.''
Chung said President Lee received the first report on the ship sinking at 9:45 p.m. on March 26 through a hotline, some 23 minutes after the Cheonan, which, survivors from the wreckage said was on a routine patrol mission, split in two following an unexplained explosion.
Lee immediately convened an emergency security meeting to discuss the situation and check the possibility of North Korean involvement, according to presidential aides.
The military has changed the time of the explosion four times, raising suspicions that it was trying to conceal the truth.
[Cheonan]
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Ominous Signs From N. Korea
By Sah Dong-seok
Deputy Managing Editor
Early in the morning every Saturday, KBS 1TV broadcasts ``North Korea Now,'' a 25-minute program that introduces propaganda clips produced by North Korea along with the latest news on the reclusive country. KBS says the program is intended to help the two Koreas expand sympathy for understanding and reconciliation, thus contributing to realizing national reunification.
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South Korean Sailors Say Blast That Sank Their Ship Came From Outside the Vessel
By CHOE SANG-HUN
Published: April 8, 2010
SEOUL, South Korea — It could take weeks for engineers to salvage the South Korean warship that sank in waters disputed by North Korea after a mysterious explosion and provide a definitive explanation of what caused the disaster. But some signs are pointing to North Korea, raising uncomfortable questions for the South’s government.
[Cheonan]
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Sources Explain Ongoing Developments in N.Korean Submersible Technology
North Korea has stealth submersibles equipped with heavy attack torpedoes, intelligence sources speaking on condition of anonymity claimed Tuesday. The anonymous sources said the North's Shark-class submersibles and Yugo-class midget submarines are covered with "special tiles" that can evade sonar and some models of the Yugo-class subs are armed with 533 mm torpedoes.
[NNL]
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Shipwreck Survivors Tell Their Stories
Survivors of the Navy corvette Cheonan said they heard two ear-splitting explosions one or two seconds apart before the ship sank but did not smell gunpowder. The survivors broke their silence at a press conference Wednesday, 13 days after the ship sank on March 26.
They ruled out that the ship struck a rock or broke apart due to metal fatigue or age.
[Cheonan]
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Unanswered Questions Cast Doubt on Military Coordination
A fact-finding committee of civilian experts and military officers probing the sinking of the Navy corvette Cheonan on Wednesday confirmed the disaster occurred at 9:22 p.m. on March 26. At 10:40 p.m., an hour and 18 minutes after the 1,200 ton warship split in half and began to sink, South Korean KF-16 fighter jets lifted off from an Air Force base in South Chungcheong Province. This gap in time has triggered suspicions that there may have been some serious problems in the Navy and Air Force launching a coordinated mission to help the Cheonan. There are also suspicions that the Joint Chiefs of Staff, whose task is to ensure cooperation between the Army, Navy and Air Force, may have been caught off guard.
The commander of naval operations bypassed the Joint Chiefs of Staff, his direct superior, and phoned Defense Minister Kim Tae-young for authorization for the Sokcho to fire on the target.
[Cheonan]
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N.Korean Military 'Put on Alert After Shipwreck'
North Korea ordered the entire military to step up alertness in the wake of the sinking of the South Korean Navy corvette Cheonan in the West Sea on March 26.
Kim Heung-kwang, the head of defector organization North Korea Intellectuals Solidarity, on Wednesday said, "For a few days now it has been difficult to keep in touch with our sources in the North, apparently because of the North Korean Army's heightened alertness."
Radio Free Asia quoted an officer of the North's Ninth Army Corps in Chongjin, North Hamgyong Province, as saying, "The Ministry of People's Armed Forces on April 4 sent instructions to all military units" about the sinking of the Cheonan. The ministry reportedly ordered all officers and soldiers to "carefully monitor the enemy's moves, heighten alertness, and prepare to deal an annihilating blow to the enemy if it launches a provocation."
The ministry said, "A South Korean Navy ship sank in the West Sea recently. The U.S. imperialists and South Korean military warmongers are moving to attribute the sinking" to North Korea. It described the move as a "scheme."
[Cheonan]
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Survivors’ families say press conference left questions unanswered
The family members are saying the military seemed to be placing responsibility for telling the truth about the incident onto the shoulders of survivors
» Survivors of the sunken Patrol Combat Corvette (PCC) Cheonan address the media during a press conference held at the Armed Forces Capital Hospital in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, April 7.
Family members of missing sailors from the Patrol Combat Corvette (PCC) Cheonan expressed disappointment Wednesday following a press conference that included survivors of the disaster held at the Armed Forces Capital Hospital in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province. The family members said that they did not act in a resentful way towards the survivors, but were disappointed with the attitude of the military authorities, which seemed to present the survivors so that they could in some fashion read an answer sheet given to them in an attempt by military authorities to evade responsibility.
[Cheonan]
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Ruling Camp Differs Over NK Involvement in Disaster
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter
The naval disaster, which took the life of one sailor and left 45 others missing, has led the ruling party to face off with the government over North Korea's involvement in the tragedy.
No one knows exactly what caused the explosion that caused the frigate Cheonan to split in two and sink in the West Sea near the maritime border between South and North Korea on the night of March 26.
But many legislators of the ruling Grand National Party (GNP) appeared to be convinced that the North is responsible.
They point their fingers at North Korean military hardliners, who were reportedly responsible for previous bellicose acts, as the driving force of the incident.
Politicians appear to be resorting to the ``red scare'' tactic to drum up support as the June 2 local elections approach.
[Cheonan]
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Information About Shipwreck Must Be Handled with Care
Lawmaker Kim Hak-song, the head of the National Assembly's Defense Committee, was briefed by the military in a closed door meeting on Monday. He later told reporters that two North Korean submarines disappeared from South Korean military surveillance between March 23 and 27. But military authorities have still failed to discover the whereabouts of one of them on March 26, when the Navy corvette Cheonan sank, while the other was found to have communicated with its base at Cape Bipagot in the North's South Hwanghae Province, he said.
Kim's comments will have allowed North Korea to grasp the capabilities of U.S. military reconnaissance satellites South Korea is using and South Korea's ability to intercept the North's communications. North Korean submarines and semi-submersibles will probably operate using the weakest points of U.S. and South Korean reconnaissance capabilities, and the North is highly likely to switch communication channels and scramble messages more often to make it harder to intercept them.
At this point, the main concern is whether North Korea played a role in the sinking of the Cheonan. The South Korean government, military and politicians must inform the public about the details of the disaster. The public has a right to know. And it is only proper for the military to divulge what it considers "classified" information if that is what it takes to regain the public's trust. This is all the more necessary considering the amount of rumors floating around on the Internet, including claims that the South Korean military mistakenly fired on its own vessel, or that the entire incident was fabricated by the administration to make North Korea appear evil.
From the beginning, the military and the presidential office have differed in views about the possibility of North Korean involvement in the sinking of the ship.
[Cheonan] [Intelligence] [ROK military]
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NIS says N.Korean attack on Cheonan impossible sans Kim Jong-il approval
Analysts say approval was unlikely in light of N.Korea’s internal situation at the time
National Intelligence Service (NIS) Director Won Sei-hoon, speaking Tuesday in reference to the sinking of the Patrol Combat Corvette (PCC) Cheonan, said, “A project of this scale could not be carried out by a single unit commander without the approval of National Defense Commission Chairman Kim Jong-il.” Won also said, “In considering North Korea’s internal situation at the time, including the resolution of the successor to Chairman Kim, preparations for his visit to China and the chaos in the wake of the currency reform, it is difficult to believe that he gave approval.” This analysis stands in contrast to Defense Minister Kim Tae-young, who emphasized the possibility that the sinking was the result of a torpedo attack by North Korea.
A number of National Assembly Intelligence Committee members reported that Director Won, who attended the committee’s plenary session Tuesday, gave this reply when asked by ruling and opposition party lawmakers if the sinking of the Cheonan was connected with North Korea or if it could have been carried out by individuals in the military without the authorization of Kim Jong-il.
[Cheonan] [Maverick]
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Intelligence release draws fire from the government
April 07, 2010
Grand National Representative Kim Hak-song, who heads the National Assembly’s Defense Committee, faced fierce denunciations yesterday following his revelations of key military intelligence before the media.
Kim met with reporters Monday afternoon and discussed the March 26 sinking of the Navy corvette Cheonan after he received personal briefings from the Defense Ministry and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Kim gave reporters detailed information he had obtained from the military, linking the Cheonan’s sinking to a possible torpedo or mine attack.
His revelations prompted concerns that the release of confidential military information could lay bare American and South Korean methods of gathering intelligence on the North.
[Cheonan] [Intelligence]
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Lawmaker Points to Signs Linking N.Korean Sub to Shipwreck
A lawmaker has pointed out that one North Korean submarine was unaccounted for in the West Sea around the time when the South Korean Navy corvette Cheonan sank on March 26. Kim Hak-song, the chairman of the National Assembly's Defense Committee, on Monday said, "Two North Korean Shark-class (325 t) submarines disappeared from our military surveillance between March 23 and 27, but the military authorities have still failed to find out where one of them was on March 26."
[Cheonan] [Media] [MISCOM]
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N.Korea 'Could Attack South to Cover Internal Crisis'
North Korea could attempt to provoke the South prior to the G20 summit in Seoul in November in an effort to divert attention from its deepening domestic crisis, experts speculated Monday at a seminar on the G20 summit and security in the Korean Peninsula organized by the Institute for National Security Strategy. The seminar comes amid suspicions that North Korea may have been involved in the sinking of the Navy corvette Cheonan in a mysterious explosion on March 26.
Brian Myers, a professor at Dogseo University in Busan, said North Korea is unlikely to sabotage the G20 summit or commit a provocation disgracing the host, but recalled that Pyongyang bombed KAL flight No. 858 just prior to the 1988 Seoul Olympics and killed four South Korean sailors in a naval skirmish during the 2002 football World Cup.
[Cheonan] [Media] [Takeover] [MISCOM]
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Defense Minister Told Off for Speculating About Shipwreck
Defense Minister Kim Tae-young reads a handwritten memo from Cheong Wa Dae at the National Assembly on Friday. /Courtesy of NoCut News Defense Minister Kim Tae-young was apparently given a drubbing by the presidential office for relating the sinking of the Navy corvette Cheonan near the border with North Korea on March 26 to a North Korean attack.
According to a memo to the minister that was caught on camera, Cheong Wa Dae was unhappy that Kim speculated that a torpedo attack was the likeliest cause and that reporters have written stories based on that speculation.
NoCut News, an online daily, on Monday carried a close-up of the minister reading the memo that makes it possible to read some of it. "Either answering questions from ruling party lawmakers or making your own statements about a possible link between the disappearance of two [North Korean] submarines or submersibles" from their base around the time of the accident, "please make sure to say that you will know only after the sunken ship is salvaged as we [the government] have maintained, and that the military is investigating all possibilities and you are not leaning toward any possibility," the handwritten memo read.
[Cheonan] [Media] [Dissension]
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N.Korea Ratchets Up Rhetoric Over Anything But Shipwreck
North Korea has made no comment about the sinking of South Korean naval corvette Cheonan 11 days since the day the ship sank but instead continued its rhetorical campaign against Seoul and Washington on other issues.
A spokesman for the North Korean Army's liaison office at the truce village of Panmunjeom on Monday threatened to end cooperation with the U.S. in retrieving the remains of soldiers who died in the Korean War. "We will no longer be concerned if the bones of thousands of American soldiers remain scattered throughout the land. It will be responsibility of the U.S. if remains of thousands of U.S. soldiers are lost," it said.
[MIA]
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Families of crewmembers endure hardship amid prolonged search
Around 200 family members still remain at the Second Fleet Command headquarters of the navy awaiting news
Ever since news unexpectedly broke on television that the Patrol Combat Corvette (PCC) Cheonan his father was on had sunk, Lee-san, the 13-year-old son of Master Chief Petty Officer Lee Chang-gi, has had to fix his meals alone. The rest of his family, his mother, uncle and grandmother, waited for news of his father at a temporary residence prepared at the headquarters of the South Korean navy’s Second Fleet Command in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province. For Lee, who only entered middle school a month ago, fixing his own meals has been difficult, and he is unable to eat a proper meal. On the fourth day after the accident, his school learned of the situation and set him food from the school’s cafeteria.
[Cheonan]
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The Military Must Not Play Havoc with the Truth
In a briefing about the sinking of the Navy corvette Cheonan, the Defense Ministry on Sunday said "routine communication" took place at around 9:19 p.m. between the vessel and the Second Navy Fleet Command on the day of the sinking. That means there was no emergency until 9:19 p.m. and that the ship was not in danger until that time. The military made that announcement because of increasing suspicions about the exact time when the Cheonan began to sink amid all kinds of rumors being spread on the internet.
Heightening these suspicions, the Maritime Police Agency in a press release on March 28 had said that the ship began to sink at 9:15 p.m. on March 26, seven minutes before the time of the Navy had announced earlier. The Navy said the discrepancy was due to "miscommunication."
[Cheonan] [ROK military]
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N.Korea Accuses S.Korean Troops of Firing Toward Its Border
North Korea is accusing the South Korean military of firing on North Korean troops guarding the tense land border that separates the two countries.
North Korea's state-run news agency says South Korean forces committed what it calls a "grave armed provocation" Sunday. It says they fired toward a North Korean police post in the eastern part of the demilitarized zone. South Korea's military says no such incident took place.
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S. Korean Army Fires Gun toward DPRK Post in DMZ
Pyongyang, April 4 (KCNA) -- The south Korean puppet forces committed grave armed provocation in the Demilitarized Zone in the eastern sector of the front on Sunday.
At about 14:07 that day the armed bandits of the puppet army intruded into the DMZ south of Marker No. 1270 of the Military Demarcation Line and fired 90 mm recoilless gun toward a civil police post of the north side, thus seriously threatening the safety of civil policemen of the north side on routine duty.
This was a premeditated provocation of the south Korean puppet forces designed to deliberately aggravate the situation in the DMZ of the MDL.
The touch-and-go situation was prevailing there owing to such undisguised military provocation committed under the eyes of the north.
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'No Unusual Situation on Cheonan Before 9:19 PM'
By Na Jeong-ju
Staff Reporter
The military denied a media report Sunday that the Navy received a message concerning an ``unusual situation'' on the frigate Cheonan at 9:15 p.m. on March 26 just minutes before it sank near the sea border with North Korea, saying the ship and the naval command held ordinary radio communications at 9:19 p.m.
On Saturday, MBC reported, citing a military source that the 2nd Navy Fleet, to which the Cheonan belonged, reported an unusual situation on the ship to Navy headquarters at 9:15 p.m. Minutes later, the ship disappeared from radar and the Navy couldn't get a radio signal anymore, it said
[NLL}
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War still raging for South Korean POWs in North
By Jon Herskovitz and Christine Kim
Reuters
Monday, April 5, 2010; 12:55 AM
SEOUL (Reuters) - Somewhere in North Korea, more than 500 South Korean prisoners of war have been held for more than half a century, all but certain to spend their final days in the secretive state without a chance of ever returning home.
The 560 are all who remain alive of what Seoul estimates were about 80,000 South Korean soldiers who were left on the wrong side of a Cold War divide when a ceasefire ended the 1950-53 Korean War.
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The Sinking of the Cheonan
by Nicole Finnemann (nmf@keia.org)
What Happened
On Friday, March 26, at around 10:30pm while on a routine patrol near Baengnyeong Island off the north west coast of South Korea and extremely close to the disputed Northern Limit Line, the 1,200-ton South Korean naval corvette Cheonan suffered a sudden blast strong enough to rip the ship in two and sink it. There were 104 people on board when the explosion happened; only 58 have been rescued. The cause of the explosion remains unknown or classified, though it appears conclusive that the explosion’s source was one of “external impact.”
Regardless of what we learn the true cause of the tragedy to be, the sinking of the Cheonan has revived fear and debates on how easily North and South Korea could lurch into war unexpectedly.
[Cheonan]
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Suspicion of N.Korean Hand in Sinking Mounts
Military insiders believe there is mounting evidence that the Navy corvette Cheonan was hit by a North Korean torpedo before it broke in two and sank in waters near the de-facto inter-Korean border. But the Defense Ministry and military authorities insist on the importance of establishing the exact cause of the incident before any conclusions are announced.
A senior military officer on Thursday said, "There is a 60 to 70 percent chance that the ship was hit" by a North Korean torpedo. But he added the question remains whether any evidence was left behind.
He based his speculation on indications that the ship was sunk by an external explosion and that a torpedo was in his view a more likely cause than an old mine from the days of the Korean War, a possibility that has also been floated
[Cheonan] [Media]
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N.Korean Submarine 'Left Base Before the Cheonan Sank'
Amid rampant speculation that the Navy corvette Cheonan sank due to a torpedo attack by a North Korean submarine or semi-submersible, there are reports that South Korean and U.S. intelligence agencies detected a submarine disappearing and reappearing at a North Korean submarine base on the west coast not far from the site of the wreck around Friday, the day the ship sank.
[Cheonan] [Media]
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Cheonan Captain 'Reported Attack'
Immediately after an explosion that caused the 1,200-ton corvette Cheonan to sink in waters near the de-facto maritime border with North Korea on March 26, the Captain sent out a message to the Second Navy Fleet Command, saying, "We are being attacked by the enemy."
A military source on Thursday said Captain Choi Won-il sent the message using his mobile phone, according to analysis of communications records. Choi sent the report after confirming that the stern had broken off following the explosion around 9:25 p.m. It is not clear how much information he had at the time.
[Cheonan]
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What Was the Cheonan Doing in Treacherous Waters?
What was the Cheonan doing in the shallow and rapidly flowing waters near Baeknyeong Island before it sank due to an unexplained explosion on March 26? The military says patrol ships operate only in areas designated by the upper command, and the waters where the ship sank are within normal operating areas of the Cheonan.
But that does not explain what it was doing there. Since being appointed to the helm of Cheonan in August of 2008, Caption Choi Won-il is said to have passed that region about a dozen times, or twice a month on average over the last 20 months.
This has led to speculation that the Cheonan was on some kind of mission or conducting a reconnaissance run following detection of unusual activity by North Korea in the area
[Cheonan]
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You Can't Trust Kim Jong-il, Says N.Korean Defector
The highest ranking official ever to defect from North Korea on Wednesday warned against placing any expectations in the Kim Jong-il regime. "It's wrong to try and do anything directly with Kim Jong-il." Said Hwang Jang-yop, a former secretary of the Workers' Party, in a lecture he gave at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington D.C.
Hwang said a sudden regime collapse in North Korea is unlikely. "No emergency will take place in North Korea so long as China continues to support it," he said. "At the moment, North Korea has no forces powerful enough to oppose Kim Jong-il, and no internal split of the system can be expected."
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President Lee confirms thus far “No evidence of N.Korean involvement in Cheonan incident”
The statement comes in the wake of conflicting statements by administration and military officials
Addressing the cause of the sinking of the Patrol Combat Corvette (PCC) Cheonan on Thursday, President Lee Myung-bak said that they are leaving all possibilities open, but thus far no evidence has been uncovered indicating that North Korea was involved.
[Cheonan]
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Government shifts tenor on N.Korea-Cheonan connection
While investigations continue on, observers say the government’s shift could be an attempt to acquiesce to the standpoint of allegations by party base members
» President Lee Myung-bak listens to a report by navy Chief of Staff Kim Sung-chan aboard the Dokdoham detailing rescue operations for the sunken Patrol Combat Corvette (PCC) Cheonan near Baengnyeong Island, March 30.
After initially ruling out the possibility of North Korean involvement in the sinking of the Patrol Combat Corvette (PCC) Cheonan, the government has been subtly shifting its stance and leaking theories implicating North Korea. In particular, this trend has emerged mainly from the military, the party most directly involved with this incident, leaving some critics charging that they are trying to evade responsibility without providing accurate information to the public.
[Cheonan] [ROK military]
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[Editorial] Conducting a thorough investigation into the Cheonan
The Patrol Combat Corvette (PCC) Cheonan, with 104 crew members on board, sank in the waters off Baengyeong Island, a West Coast island, with 46 crew members now missing. In the end, it is a major tragedy that should not have taken place. The government and military must do everything in their power for the search and rescue operation until all are found, under the presumption that the missing are still alive.
[Cheonan]
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No subs near Cheonan: Ministry
Military doesn’t release radio communications
April 02, 2010
Col. Lee Young-gi, a senior defense officer under the Joint Chiefs of Staff, plays for reporters recorded footage of a thermal observation device showing a front part of the sunken Navy ship yesterday at the Defense Ministry in Yongsan, central Seoul. The thermal observation device is a type of night-vision used by the military. Lee said the clip was recorded from Baengnyeong Island, Korea’s northernmost island in the Yellow Sea. [NEWSIS]
The Defense Ministry in Seoul said yesterday it didn’t detect any North Korean submarines near the inter-Korean maritime border in the Yellow Sea on Friday night, when the South Korean Navy vessel Cheonan sank after an unexplained explosion.
“We closely watched the movement of the North’s vessels, including submarines and semi-submersibles, at the time of the sinking,” said Commodore Lee Gi-sik, chief of information operations under the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Seoul, during a media briefing. “But [the South’s] military did not detect any North Korean submarines near the countries’ western sea border.” The ministry did not comment directly on semi-submersible activity in the area at the time.
[Cheonan]
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Military plays down N.K. foul play
Amid persistent speculations over North Korea's possible role in the sinking of a naval patrol ship, the Defense Ministry yesterday reiterated that there were no unusual North Korean activities detected at the time of the disaster on Friday last week.
"With regard to this case, no particular activities by North Korean submarines or semi-submarines (moving southward before the sinking) have been verified. I am saying again that there were no activities that could be directly linked to (the sinking of the ship)," Defense Ministry spokesman Won Tae-jae said during a press briefing.
His remarks came after a news report that the 1,200-ton Cheonan carrying 104 crewmembers was deployed to the scene near the western inter-Korean maritime border in response to several semi-submarines moving toward the south.
Some have raised the possibility that a North Korean submarine laid an underwater mine or fired a torpedo targeting the Cheonan, which officials said was torn into two following an unverified explosion.
In response to growing suspicions over why another naval ship, which was patrolling 49 kilometers away from the scene of the incident, opened fire at an "unidentified object" without rescuing sailors of the sinking Cheonan, the ministry said that it initially thought that an enemy vessel was fleeing after an attack.
"After the Cheoan case occurred, the Navy raised its vigilance posture and deployed the corvette Sokcho toward the Northern Limit Line. ... After firing warning shots, the ship fired shots to destroy the object for five minutes from 11 p.m.," the ministry said.
The ministry concluded that the object on its radar was a flock of birds as it was separated into two and came together twice, and disappeared on land. It also said that its Electric Optics Tracking System could not find any ripples, which are usually created when a ship moves forward at a fast pace.
[Cheonan]
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Birds or North Korean Midget Submarine?
Defense Ministry Says No North Korean Submarine Detected
A large flock of birds or a North Korean midget submarine?
That is one of the questions surrounding the inexplicable sinking of the ROK Navy's patrol ship, the 1,200-ton Cheonan, off Baengnyeong Island in the West Sea (Yellow Sea) last Friday night.
As things stand now, just an hour after an explosion on the Cheonan broke it into two before it sank, its sister frigate Sokcho fired 130 rounds from its 76mm main canon.
As for possible moves by North Korean submarines near the NLL at the time of the sinking, the ministry said there had been no such activities.
``We didn't detect any movement by North Korean submarines near the NLL (when the Cheonan sank), and there is a low possibility of North Korea's dispatch of submarines to the South,'' said Rear Adm. Lee Ki-shik of the information and operations bureau at the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
[Cheonan]
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Why the Sunshine Policy Made Sense
By James E. Hoare
At a recent private meeting in London, a former senior United Nations’ official, drawing on experience relating to a wide range of countries, said that transforming a “failing” or “fragile” state was not something that could be done overnight. Those involved needed to think in terms of ten to twenty years rather than weeks or months. Regardless of whether or not one accepts the idea of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK or North Korea) as a failed or even fragile state—and the term is often used in some quarters—the idea that one is in for the long haul in bringing about major modifications in behavior and attitude is certainly a good one to have in mind when dealing with the DRPK. It was such an approach that marked the Republic of Korea’s policy towards the North under former Presidents Kim Dae Jung and Roh Moo Hyun.
[SK NK policy]
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Speculation Focuses on N.Korean Semi-Submersibles
As more evidence surfaces about the sinking of the Navy corvette Cheonan on Friday, speculation is increasingly focusing on a possible attack from one of the North Korean semi-submersibles reportedly operated by crack teams and capable of carrying two torpedoes or mines.
Semi-submersible vessels weigh less than 300 tons and are smaller than submarines. The waters where the Cheonan sank are only 20 m to 30 m deep and difficult for North Korea's mainstay 1,800 ton Romeo class submarines to negotiate. North Korea allegedly uses the semi-submersibles when transporting spies on infiltration missions into South Korea. These flat boats approach coastal waters remaining mostly submerged under water and disappear completely under water as they near the coastline, which makes it extremely difficult to detect them. Defense Minister Kim Tae-young told lawmakers on Monday the semi-submersibles can fire two torpedoes and did not rule out that such a vessel may have attacked the Cheonan.
Kim Hak-song, the head of the National Assembly's Defense Committee, stoked speculation by saying he had heard that four North Korean semi-submersibles crossed south of the Northern Limit Line, but high-ranking military officers said the claim is unfounded.
[Cheonan] [Media]
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This Is a Time for the Nation to Stand United
President Lee Myung-bak on Tuesday visited the area where the Navy corvette Cheonan sank in an unexplained explosion Friday. The president flew by helicopter to the 14,000-ton transport ship Dokdo, which operates near the site of the wreck, and was then taken to the 3,000-ton warship Gwangyang, which serves as the command post for the search and rescue operation for the 46 missing sailors.
The area is only 11.7 km from Wolle Cape and 13.1 km off Jangsan Cape, where North Korea's coastal batteries are clustered. The president made the visit "because of the gravity of the case and his sorrow over the missing sailors," the presidential office said.
[Cheonan]
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N.Korea Warns Against 'Invasion'
An official North Korean newspaper on Wednesday condemned South Korea-U.S. joint military exercises as "practice for war of invasion of North Korea."
The Rodong Shinmun said, "If the U.S. and South Korean jingoists start invading North Korea, our armed forces will retaliate with thunderbolts of fire and drown them in the sea."
The North Korean media has nothing to say about the sinking of the South Korean naval corvette Cheonan six days after the incident.
[Joint US military] [Takeover]
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Top brass ordered the Sokcho to fire
Image on the ship’s radar was first considered ‘relevant to the sinking’
April 01, 2010
Marines yesterday prepare for a search and rescue operation for missing personnel from the naval ship Cheonan on Baengnyeong Island in the Yellow Sea even though poor weather conditions suspended the rescue mission. By Kim Tae-seong
The South Korean Navy fired northward on the night of the Cheonan’s sinking at the order of the upper military chain of command, with orders to destroy a perceived threat on radar, a senior military official told the JoongAng Ilbo yesterday.
The 1,200-ton patrol combat corvette Sokcho shot at an unidentified object after the Cheonan sank on Friday night near Baengnyeong Island in the Yellow Sea near the inter-Korean border. The National Defense Ministry later explained that the target on the radar was identified as a flock of birds. They did not disclose at the time that the order came from the upper military chain of command.
“At the time, the Sokcho was operating a mission in the nearby waters and rushed to the explosion site to assist the Cheonan,” said the military official. “And it found an unidentified object moving fast toward the Northern Limit Line, and the military command ordered the Sokcho to fire its 76-millimeter guns.”
The Sokcho fired 130 shots toward the object 90 minutes after the Cheonan’s sinking.
“The command believed that the object was relevant to the sinking, so an order to shoot to destroy was made,” the source said. “But the Sokcho made sure not to fire beyond the NLL.” The Northern Limit Line is the de facto maritime border between the two Koreas in the Yellow Sea.
According to the source, the object still crossed the NLL and moved into North Korean waters. The military, therefore, concluded that it was a flock of birds. A Blue House official also said the conclusion was made because the movements were random on the radar.
A Navy specialist, however, raised skepticism, noting that the North could have deceived the South. “Birds fly at the speed of 30 to 40 knots, and the speed is about the same as the North’s semi-submersibles,” he said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “It could have been a deception tactic of the North. (sic)”
[Cheonan] [Media] [Bizarre]
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N.Korean Submarine 'Left Base Before the Cheonan Sank'
Amid rampant speculation that the Navy corvette Cheonan sank due to a torpedo attack by a North Korean submarine or semi-submersible, there are reports that South Korean and U.S. intelligence agencies detected a submarine disappearing and reappearing at a North Korean submarine base on the west coast not far from the site of the wreck around Friday, the day the ship sank.
[Cheonan] [Media]
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Military leadership adding to Cheonan chaos with contradictory statements
Decidedly differing answers to key questions about the sinking of the Cheonan is leading observers to question whether the military is concealing the facts
» The Dokdoham, the largest transport ship in Asia (left), conducts rescue operations for the sunken Patrol Combat Corvette (PCC) Cheonan near Baengnyeong Island, March 30.
As the cause of the sinking of the Cheonan remained unknown as of Tuesday, four days after the accident, the military has continued to add to the confusion by issuing differing explanations that change with each passing moment on such key questions as the exact time of the incident, the impact suffered by the boat, and the question of North Korean involvement. For this reason, many observers are questioning whether the military is concealing the facts.
Different Stories on the Possibility of North Korean Involvement
With regard to the possibility of North Korean involvement, subtle temperature differences can be detected even within the military. In his National Assembly report on Saturday, Lee Ki-sik, head of the marine operations office at the Joint Chiefs of Staff, ruled out the possibility, saying, “No North Korean warships have been detected, and there is no possibility of their approaching the waters where the accident took place.” But at the National Assembly National Defense Committee meeting on Monday, Kim Tae-young strongly hinted at the possibility of North Korean involvement. “North Korean could do something and then maintain their silence in order to cover it up, or it could be intended to avoid misunderstandings or to maximize the provocation.”
Defense Minister Kim Tae-young himself has even changed his own story. When asked at the National Defense Committee about the possibility that the accident was caused by a mine, he replied, “In 2008, when I was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, there was talk about mines, so we collected all of them.” Minister Kim added, “There is no possibility it was a mine.” But when some of the lawmakers pointed out that the possibility of a mine floating up after being buried by various pressures at a low depth in the mud or flats should be noted in the investigation, Kim replied, “It could have been a North Korean mine that floated into our area.”
[Cheonan]
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Cheonan was on alternate course during accident
The Ministry of Defense says it was not an emergency combat situation since the navy personnel were resting during the incident
» A family member of a missing sailor of the Patrol Combat Corvette (PCC) Cheonan is stricken with grief at the headquarters of the second fleet in Pyongtaek, March 29.
Military authorities’ failure to provide a clear explanation of the operation that guided the Patrol Combat Corvette (PCC) into the waters where it went down Friday night, deviating from its ordinary course, has led observers to question if the Cheonan may have been engaged in a special mission connected with the cause of the accident.
[Cheonan]
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Attention focusing on military leadership’s priorities
The continued use of outdated equipment and a lack of communication with the public on causes behind accidents are raising more questions about leadership decisions
» Personnel of the navy warship Seonginbong prepare to continue the search for the missing crew members of the Patrol Combat Corvette (PCC) Cheonan at the site where the ship sank, March 29.
The sinking of the navy Patrol Combat Corvette (PCC) Cheonan together with the crashes of air force and army aircraft earlier this month have led observers to question whether there are fundamental problems within the military that are not being made public.
On March 2, two Korean air force F-5 fighter jets crashed in the area around Daegwan-ryeong in Gangwon Province, killing three pilots. The next day on March 3, an MD-500 army helicopter crashed in Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province, killing two. Neither the air force nor the army has yet released its final investigation results, but it is known that they are attributing the accidents respectively to “pilot error” and “poor climate conditions.”
The sinking of the Cheonan took place amid an emphasis in the military on accident prevention following the two aircraft crashes. Indeed, following the crashes, the Joint Chiefs of Staff ordered safety precautions for all branches of the military, and this safety directive is known to have extended to the navy as well.
For this reason, observers are saying that one of the basic problems in connection with the recent string of accidents, rather than being negligence in superficial safety measures, is instead a climate among the military leadership of being interested only in acquiring new weapons, while neglecting maintenance and operation of existing equipment.
[Cheonan] [Arms sales]
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KPA Warns Any Act of Disturbing Security and Order in DMZ
Pyongyang, March 29 (KCNA) -- These days witness a lot of serious developments in the area along the Military Demarcation Line where huge armed forces are standing in acute confrontation for which the south Korean military authorities are to blame. They may drive the present touch-and-go situation to a more dangerous phase.
A spokesman for the Panmunjom Mission of the Korean People's Army issued a statement on Monday in this regard:
The south Korean military warmongers have been busy staging an anti-DPRK psychological warfare in the Demilitarized Zone with agents specializing in this warfare and other riff-raffs involved since the mid-February under the signboards of "visit," "tour" and "observance".
It is a well-known fact that the south Korean military concluded what it called "MOU on supporting news coverage of the DMZ" with 15 media organizations in a bid to let their reporters tour not only the DMZ but nearby frontline areas and prepare materials for anti-north smear campaigns and release them by means of newspapers, broadcasting services, internet, etc.
As already known to the world, Paragraph 9 of Article 1 of the Armistice Agreement stipulates that "No person, military or civilian, shall be permitted to enter the Demilitarized Zone except persons concerned with the conduct of civil administration and relief and persons specially authorized to enter by the Military Armistice Commission."
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Sinking of Ship Feeds South Koreans’ Fears of the North
By CHOE SANG-HUN
Published: March 29, 2010
The South Korean military announced on Tuesday that one of the divers taking part in the rescue effort had died, The Associated Press reported.
In the meantime, the political pressure will remain high on the South Korean government, which has been unable to offer a convincing explanation for the explosion that broke up the 1,200-ton ship, the Cheonan, within minutes late Friday night.
South Korean officials, while careful not to point directly at North Korea, allowed speculation regarding its culpability to rage, speaking volumes about South Korea’s current state of uneasiness with the North.
[Cheonan]
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