ROK and Inter-Korean relations
May 2010
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World Press Speculates About Tensions on Korean Peninsula
Worldwide media speculation is running high as tension deepens after South Korea accused the North of sinking the Navy corvette Cheonan in March.
Time magazine on Wednesday laid out a scenario for a limited war of small-scale skirmishes. The most dangerous and likeliest place is the West Sea. Even before the Cheonan was sunk by a North Korean torpedo, three clashes had taken place there. If the North does not recognize the Northern Limit Line, which was drawn by the Allied Forces following the truce in the Korean War, there is a constant threat of confrontations.
[NLL]
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NDC Holds Press Conference on "Cheonan" Sinking
Pyongyang, May 28 (KCNA) -- The National Defence Commission of the DPRK held a press conference at the People's Palace of Culture Friday denouncing the Lee Myung Bak group of traitors of south Korea for having recently kicked off a racket of confrontation with the DPRK after groundlessly linking the case of the sinking of warship "Cheonan" with it.
NDC Holds Press Conference on "Cheonan" Sinking
Pyongyang, May 28 (KCNA) -- The National Defence Commission of the DPRK held a press conference at the People's Palace of Culture Friday denouncing the Lee Myung Bak group of traitors of south Korea for having recently kicked off a racket of confrontation with the DPRK after groundlessly linking the case of the sinking of warship "Cheonan" with it.
Present there were Korean and foreign reporters, representatives and military attaches of foreign embassies and representatives of international organizations here.
Maj. General of the Korean People's Army Pak Rim Su, director of the Policy Department of the NDC, spoke at the press conference.
Referring to the fact that the situation created after the case of warship "Cheonan" cooked up by the group of traitors is so grave that a war may break out anytime, he stressed that any accidental clash that may break out in the waters of the West Sea of Korea or in areas along the Demilitarized Zone will lead to an all-out war.
The south Korean puppet authorities persistently refused the field inspection, unilaterally insisting on the forged "results of investigation" out of guilty conscience, he noted.
He disclosed the truth behind the case as follows:
The case of the warship sinking is a fabrication and charade orchestrated by the south Korean puppet authorities from A to Z.
First, we can say this because the "scientific investigation" and "objective investigation" touted by the south Korean authorities were nonsensical.
To begin with, the "team for investigation" was formed in such a way that it could not make a scientific and objective investigation, and this is clear from the fact that the south Korean military supervised the investigation.
It is as clear as noonday that in what direction its results were worked out because the investigation was supervised by those who should be tried for being chief culprits of the case.
The "international joint investigation team" was also made up of those countries which were not in a position to conduct an objective investigation.
The United States was included in it.
The U.S. is in the hostile relationship with the DPRK as it is still technically at war with it, and countries including Britain, Australia and Canada which joined the team are also those countries which participated in the Korean war by toeing the U.S. line and are now cooperating with the south Korean authorities.
Clear is which party the members of the team from those countries would side with and what conclusion they would make.
[Cheonan] [Coverup]
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FM Accuses US of Creating Atmosphere of International Pressure
Pyongyang, May 28 (KCNA) -- A spokesman for the DPRK Foreign Ministry Friday released the following statement in connection with the fact that the United States is becoming all the more reckless in its moves to create an atmosphere of international pressure upon the DPRK by referring the case of warship "Cheonan" to the UN Security Council:
Recently the U.S. secretary of State let loose a spate of sheer lies to brand the DPRK as the chief culprit of the warship sinking during her junkets to Japan, China and south Korea.
But a scrutiny into who is to benefit from the "story about a torpedo attack by north Korea" and what will be gained from it makes it clear that the case was orchestrated by the U.S. and the south Korean authorities. Firstly, the Obama administration is using the recent case for orchestrating with utmost efforts a farce to make it appear "strong" with the Congress mid-term election slated for coming November at hand as it was known to be weak externally in the first year of its administration. Secondly, the U.S. hyped the "threat from north Korea" to sound real, finally making the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, which had been keen to drive the U.S. forces out of Okinawa, yield to it. This is the reason why the "results of investigation" were announced within May. Thirdly, the U.S. has come to justify its policy of "strategic patience" designed to degrade the environment for international investment in the DPRK and steadily suffocate its economy. Fourthly, it became possible for the U.S. to put China into an awkward position and keep hold on Japan and south Korea as its servants.
The truth remains unchanged though the U.S. sticks to its own opinion. The U.S. is blustering that it would refer the said case to the UNSC, but the UNSC is the very forum which had already been besmirched due to Powell's lies about Iraq in February 2003.
[Cheonan] [Coverup]
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KCNA: Who Wire-pulled Shocking Case behind Scene
Pyongyang, May 28 (KCNA) -- Many days have passed since the case of "Cheonan" occurred but the south Korean puppet authorities are going beyond the tolerance limit in their racket of confrontation with the DPRK.
Quite many people have expressed their understanding of a lot of information provided by the relevant institutions of the DPRK several times to prove the irrefutable facts and the hard reality that there was no reason for the DPRK to get involved in such case. But the puppet group is getting more reckless as the days go by in its confrontation hysteria. Then why? It is behaving so because it firmly believes in somebody's strong backing.
[Cheonan] [US dominance]
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Military Commentator on Truth behind "Story of Attack by North" (1)
Pyongyang, May 28 (KCNA) -- A military commentator Tuesday released the following article in connection with the south Korean regime's allegation about the north's "torpedo attack" on south Korean warship "Cheonan":
The spokesman for the DPRK National Defence Commission solemnly declared the principled position of our army and people on the reckless steps the Lee Myung Bak regime of traitors is going to take against the DPRK after alleging that "Cheonan" was attacked by the north's torpedo.
The spokesman also said the NDC decided to send an inspection group to south Korea to verify at first hand the "evidence" advertised by the south Korean regime to link the vessel's sinking with the DPRK.
But the regime has persistently refused to allow the inspection group's on-the-spot verification, afraid that its allegation would be proved to be false.
The regime, citing it as "another crucial piece of evidence", has asserted that the afterbody with five propellers, engine, control device and driving shaft left undamaged is the same in size, shape and composition with CHT-02D torpedo design in the north's pamphlet introducing its "weapons for export".
Does the assertion really sound reasonable?
Even the bow and stern of the vessel, as heavy as hundreds of tons, were tossed about by currents and six of its crew reported missing because their bodies have not yet been found out. Such being the case, it is unimaginable that the 1.5-meter-long afterbody of the torpedo remained in the same place for some 50 days and that a fishing boat pulled up with a fish net the afterbody scores of U.S. and south Korean warships equipped with up-to-date detection devices had failed to find out.
Besides, the assertion that the screw shaft and engine remained undamaged and unchanged in shape is also a laughing shock. Even U.S. and British members of the international investigation team, which had blindly backed the south Korean regime in its "investigation", were perplexed at the exhibit in a glass box.
[Cheonan] [Coverup]
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Man in the News: Lee Myung-bak
By Christian Oliver
Published: May 28 2010 22:21 | Last updated: May 28 2010 22:21
South Korean officials love measuring the world in league tables. So they were fuming when their president, Lee Myung-bak, failed to be named as one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world this year. At the beginning of 2010, he simply was not in the same league as Ivorian footballer Didier Drogba or saucy songstress Lady Gaga.
As a conservative president, Mr Lee has tried to ignore North Korea, so it was perhaps his ironic destiny to be propelled on to the world stage by brinkmanship from Pyongyang. His handling of the present crisis on the peninsula has greatly boosted his stature. When Hillary Clinton, US secretary of state, repeatedly calls you statesmanlike and North Korea lambasts you as a “scumball”, you must be getting something right.
After North Korea torpedoed a South Korean warship on the night of March 26, many bleary-eyed cabinet members feared conflict was imminent as their drivers whisked them to the war bunker. A second South Korean ship had already blasted some shells northwards, picking up something on the radar screen that could have just been birds. History may ultimately portray Mr Lee, a hard-nosed businessman who survived a shipwreck himself in his childhood, as one of the key reasons an apocalyptic war did not erupt that night.
It is an extraordinary turn-around from the disastrous beginning to his presidency in 2008 when his pro-US government tottered in its infancy, hit by massive street protests over the import of American beef, feared to spread mad cow disease. His popularity plunged to about 20 per cent, worsened by an ugly spat with Buddhists who felt he was packing his government with fellow Protestant churchgoers. Buddhists make up 23 per cent of the population; Protestants 18 per cent.
To the protesters, he was President Chwi (the rat), rather than Lee. Giant papier mâché rodent effigies were burned in the streets.
Those days seem distant now. In the weeks after the loss of the warship, he exuded authority and resolve. This proved vital in controlling the hot-headed instincts of South Korea’s military. He first focused almost exclusively on the rescue operation, before demanding a full international inquiry.
[Lee Myung-bak] [Media]
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N.Korea Scraps All Military Safety Pacts with South
The North Korean Army's General Staff on Thursday threatened to cut off all overland cross-border traffic.
The North Korean military said it will close liaison offices in the east and west coast and block all overland cross-border traffic to and from the Kaesong Industrial Complex and the Mt. Kumgang resort area. It also declared all military safety guarantees for inter-Korean exchange and cooperation projects null and void.
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Probe member summoned on false rumor allegations
May 29, 2010
Shin Sang-cheol
A former member of the team that investigated the sinking of the Navy warship Cheonan is now under investigation himself for allegedly spreading false rumors about the incident.
Prosecutors yesterday called in Shin Sang-cheol, who runs the Internet political magazine Seoprise, to answer questions. Shin joined the investigative team of military and civilian experts at the recommendation of the Democratic Party, but the National Defense Ministry asked the National Assembly to replace him for reportedly arousing public mistrust in the probe’s results while rarely joining in the team’s investigation.
According to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office, Shin made claims that challenged the team’s conclusion that the Cheonan was sunk by a North Korean torpedo attack. Shin has repeatedly claimed that the sinking was just an accident, and that the South had tampered with evidence to blame the North.
Navy officials filed a petition on May 18 asking prosecutors to launch a probe, claiming that Shin had defamed the Navy by spreading false information.
Prosecutors said they were questioning Shin about the grounds for his argument.
“As a member of the probe team, I made my conclusion based on my experiences and knowledge,” Shin said on his way to questioning yesterday.
Shin studied oceanography at Korea Maritime University and was commissioned as a Navy second lieutenant. He was discharged from active duty as a first lieutenant after serving on a patrol boat in the Yellow Sea. Following his military service, he worked seven years for shipbuilders. Since 2004, he has worked for the progressive Internet political magazine.
Shin has often made public his opinions about the Cheonan’s sinking. He once claimed that the ship collided with another vessel. Lately, he has said he believes that the South tampered with evidence by marking the salvaged propulsion unit.
The marking “1 beon” (“No. 1” in English) written on the shaft was one piece of evidence that led investigators to conclude that the torpedo was a North Korean weapon.
“I think we marked the 1 beon,” Shin said Wednesday in a lecture he titled “Can we trust the Cheonan probe outcome?”
“The magnified photo of the evidence showed that the marking was written on the rusted surface,” he said. “If it were the North who marked it, the marking should have been written on a smooth surface.”
The investigation into Shin is not the first of its kind. On May 7, the Central District Prosecutors’ Office began a probe into Park Sun-won, former President Roh Moo-hyun’s secretary for national security, on charges that he spread false information about the sinking. Park, a Northeast Asia energy and security visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution who served as an adviser for a Democratic Party committee on the Cheonan investigation, said in an MBC radio interview in April that the Lee Myung-bak administration was concealing information about the sinking.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Chung Un-chan ordered the government to come up with a measure to stop the widespread rumors surrounding the Cheonan’s sinking.
By Ser Myo-ja [myoja@joongang.co.kr]
[Cheonan] [Coverup] [Human rights]
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All Quiet on the Northern Front, Defense Minister Says
No special movements by the North Korean military have been detected, Defense Minister Kim Tae-young told journalists Thursday.
Since the findings of an international inquiry into the sinking of the Navy corvette Cheonan were announced North Korea has repeatedly talked of war, "but as far as North Korean troop movements are concerned there is nothing serious to report," Kim said.
Meanwhile, Kim said the government has sent all the findings to China, which has repeatedly called for calm and is refusing to condemn North Korea over the sinking. "As a big country, China seems careful in make a judgment, but we expect it to make its position clear sooner or later," he said.
The minister also answered lingering questions over the investigation results in the sinking of the Cheonan.
He commented on the government's conflicting statements about the mysterious disappearance of two North Korean submarines from the radar around the day the Cheonan sank. The government first said there was no connection with the Cheonan sinking, but in a later statement it said those were the two subs that sank it. Asked why, Kim said, "In the initial stage, we made a judgment based only on the intelligence data we had, but we later obtained additional information from the international investigation team."
One journalist said the propulsion shaft of a torpedo which investigators said sank the Cheonan looked too corroded to have been in the water for only two months. Kim said experts made their conclusion based on a "primary visual examination" but added, "We're examining it closely."
"Once anything that has been buried in seawater is exposed to air, it corrodes rapidly," he said. "When it was first pulled up, the surface of the propulsion shaft was clean. But it corroded rapidly soon afterwards because we left it intact as evidence. The surface will become clean again if it is wiped."
[Cheonan] [Coverup]
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World Press Speculates About Tensions on Korean Peninsula
Worldwide media speculation is running high as tension deepens after South Korea accused the North of sinking the Navy corvette Cheonan in March.
Time magazine on Wednesday laid out a scenario for a limited war of small-scale skirmishes. The most dangerous and likeliest place is the West Sea. Even before the Cheonan was sunk by a North Korean torpedo, three clashes had taken place there. If the North does not recognize the Northern Limit Line, which was drawn by the Allied Forces following the truce in the Korean War, there is a constant threat of confrontations.
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Chosun Ilbo Wins Asia Society Award for N.Korean Refugee Report
The Chosun Ilbo won an honorable mention by the Asia Society in New York for its reporting on the plight of North Korean refugees and human trafficking along the North Korea-China border, specifically for a series of written stories and pictures that appeared on the English-language edition online.
[Manipulation] [Black] [Inversion][Refugee encouragement]
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N.Korea Steps Up Propaganda to Influence Elections in South
Part of the reason for North Korea's recent barrage of threatening statements and furious denials over the sinking of the South Korean Navy corvette Cheonan is apparently an attempt to influence the upcoming local elections here in favor of the Left, which it hopes will be more amenable to resuming free-flowing aid.
In yet another denial Thursday, a committee nominally tasked with implementing a 2000 agreement between the two Koreas claimed Seoul is "making desperate efforts to avert a crisis by fabricating the sinking."
A South Korean security official said, "It's evident that the North is attempting to disparage the findings of the Cheonan inquiry as a South Korean plot to turn the situation" to the ruling party's advantage. "The North seems determined to influence the elections."
[Cheonan] [Manipulation]
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N.Korea nullifies June 4 agreement
The aim of the agreement was to prevent accidental clashes from occurring in the West Sea
» A South Korean Navy participates in an anti-submarine drill off the western coast of Taean, South Chungcheong Province, May 27.
The General Staff of the North Korean People’s Army announced Thursday that it plans to nullify the bilateral agreement signed with South Korea to prevent accidental clashes from occurring in the waters of the West Sea. It also said that it would discontinue all use of very high frequency (VHF) wireless communication equipment in international waters, and immediately sever communication channels opened to deal with emergency circumstances.
At the second inter-Korean general-level military talks on June 4, 2004, North Korea and South Korea made an agreement over plans to prevent accidental clashes in the West Sea, including a bilateral halt to psychological warfare, use of the international merchant maritime vessel wireless network, and the establishment of three military communication lines in the West Sea area.
Since Thursday’s announcement of the invalidation of “agreements to prevent accidental clashes” directly follows South Korea’s recent resumption of psychological warfare against North Korea, the June 4 agreement has been effectively dismantled. Based on this agreement, South Korean patrol ships had been using international frequencies (156.8MHz and 156.6MHz) to send warning communications to North Korean patrol ships traveling south of the Northern Limit Line (NLL).
“With regard to North Korean-South Korean cooperation and interchange, we are retracting all military safeguards that our armed forces were to observe,” the General Staff said in their announcement. “We will also begin examining shutting down military communication contact sites and the fully cutting off land passage in connection with the Kaesong Industrial Complex and other sites.”
Analysts have interpreted this to mean that while North Korea may not immediately sever the six military communication lines for land passage in the East and West Sea areas or block transit, it does intend to observe South Korea’s use of psychological warfare in the future and make a determination about whether to take measures.
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[Editorial] Verification of the Cheonan investigation at the National Assembly
The Lee Myung-bak administration, after concluding through an investigation that North Korea was responsible for the sinking of the Cheonan, has been implementing ultra-hardline measures against the country, but the controversy over the Cheonan investigation findings continues unabated both within and outside of South Korea. Yesterday, the five opposition parties, eighty-six civic and social organizations, and representatives of the religious sector held an emergency meeting to highlight the necessity of verifying the findings. China has also held back from any assessment, calling the case “very complicated.”
It stands to reason that the administration’s investigation findings have been called into question. The administration maintained exclusive control over information during the investigation process. Then, without completing necessary steps for the report, the administration announced its findings in time for the beginning of the formal regional election campaign. The fact that the investigation was led by the very military leadership who would be subject to reprimand created its own credibility issues. As of now, almost none of the related data has been disclosed.
From the start, it has been impossible for the National Assembly to verify the Lee administration’s announcement. The biggest step taken by the administration was to declare an hour prior to the announcement on May 20 that it would explain the briefing’s content to the chairman of each party. After a long period of sitting idle, the National Assembly’s special Cheonan investigation committee finally held its first meeting a few days ago, and even then only ten pages of data were provided.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who visited South Korea two days ago, said that China would better understand the situation if it read the 400-page Cheonan report, but not a single lawmaker in the National Assembly has laid eyes on this report. If a report provided to a country overseas is not presented to the National Assembly, this demonstrates an unbelievable disregard for the legislature and people of South Korea. Nevertheless, Defense Minister Kim Tae-young appeared to be reprimanding that same legislature and people for not trusting the investigation findings, the height of poor reasoning.
[Cheonan] [Evidence] [US dominance]
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General Staff of KPA Issues Crucial Notice
Pyongyang, May 27 (KCNA) -- The General Staff of the Korean People's Army issued the following crucial notice Thursday:
The top-class servants of the puppet ministries of Defence, Unification and Foreign Affairs and Trade buckled down all at once to putting into practice the scenario for confrontation with fellow countrymen already worked out by them after traitor Lee Myung Bak declared it as a "state policy" to escalate all-out confrontation with the DPRK in his May 24 "statement to the people".
Such movement of the group of traitors is an act of totally scrapping the historic June 15 joint declaration and the October 4 declaration, the programme for implementing it, gains common to the nation, and a hideous criminal act of driving the north-south relations to the state of war.
As the group of traitors dared preempt all-out confrontation with the DPRK, the KPA General Staff informs it in strong terms that the revolutionary armed forces of the DPRK will put into practice crucial measures to cope with such action.
1. The KPA will retract all measures for providing military guarantees for the north-south cooperation and exchange.
It will start examining the closure of the military communications liaison offices in the eastern and western coastal areas and the total suspension of the overland passage concerning the Kaesong Industrial Zone, etc. for the present.
2. As for the anti-DPRK psychological campaign which the puppet military is set to resume, merciless counteractions will be taken throughout the frontline areas as the commander of the forces of the KPA in the central sector of the front had already warned the enemy side.
3. Bilateral agreements concluded to prevent accidental conflicts in the West Sea of Korea will be declared completely null and void.
In this connection the use of international maritime ultra-shortwave walkie-talkie will be banned and the communications line which has been in service to handle an emergency situation be immediately cut off.
4. The KPA will make a prompt physical strike at the intrusion into the extension of the Military Demarcation Line under our side's control in the West Sea of Korea.
5. It will totally ban the passage of warships, airplanes and other means of transportation of the group of traitors through the territorial waters, air and land of the DPRK.
6. It will strictly ban the entry of the group of traitors including the puppet authorities into the DPRK.
7. It will probe the truth about the "fabrication" and "charade" to the last as long as the group of traitors persistently refuses to receive the inspection group of the DPRK National Defence Commission.
The above-said steps are the first-phase reaction of the revolutionary armed forces of the DPRK to the reckless moves of the group of traitors, confrontation maniacs, sycophants and quislings to escalate the showdown with it.
The group will come to keenly realize what dear price it will have to pay for having completely scrapped the June 15 joint declaration and the October 4 declaration.
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'Two Koreas unlikely to head into armed clash'
David Straub
By Sunny Lee
Korea Times correspondent
BEIJING ? Although tensions are spiking on the Korean Peninsula since an international inquiry last week officially held the North responsible for the fatal attack on the South Korean Navy frigate Cheonan, and some observers warn of a possible major arms confrontation in the region, a veteran Korea watcher begs to differ.
"I think such worries are premature," said David Straub, a former senior foreign service officer of the U.S. State Department, who now serves as the associate director of the Korean Studies Program at Stanford University.
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Peace or War? Do we have to choose?: A Russian Perspective
By Georgy Toloraya
The sinking of the South Korean naval corvette, Cheonan, seems to have taken all progress in North-South reconciliation over the past decade and a half with it. Hopefully it will not get worse, although there are plenty of ill-tempered people on both sides of Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) who may advocate a military response. Worse yet, the situation is accident-prone, and could escalate unintentionally. As it stands now, we are facing the worst crisis in Korea in decades.
Who is to blame for this? Certainly, the rapid deterioration of relations cannot be blamed solely on North Korea. Yes, they might be guilty of a nasty attack, but we have yet to prove their involvement 100 percent. However, the ensuing campaign of heightened military-political confrontation to an unprecedented level has been mostly engineered by South Korea with reluctant support from the United States. But as long as there is still a reasonable doubt as to the degree of the North’s involvement, it is premature from a legal standpoint to reach any conclusions on North Korea’s guilt and punishment (let alone sanctions) in an international forum.
The Cheonan tragedy is being seen by some as an opportunity to get Kim Jong Il, especially in a difficult time of economic and succession problems. So after two months of thorough preparations the tactical response seems to be aimed at accomplishing the following goals:
To isolate North Korean regime internationally;
To deprive North Korea of Chinese support (this seems to be the main cause, as China has been threatened that unless it acts the way the West wants it to, the response, including increased military build-up in the area, will hurt its own interests); and
To weaken the regime by imposing new sanctions, breaking financial and trade life-lines pushing the impoverished country to implosion.
Interestingly, in a manner of: “tail wailing the dog,” the U.S. has been reluctantly pulled into this plot by South Korea
[Cheonan] [Evidence] [Takeover] [Client]
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Vienna 1st, Seoul 81st in Global Quality of Life Survey
Vienna has been named the world's best city to live in by a U.S. consulting firm. In Mercer's latest annual Quality of Living survey released on Wednesday, the Austrian capital ranked first with 108.6 points, followed by Zurich and Geneva, both of Switzerland. Vancouver, Canada and Auckland, New Zealand were tied at fourth place. The top five cities all maintained the same rankings as last year
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North Korea: Ghost of Roh vs. Living Lee
By Andray Abrahamian
How the sinking of the Cheonan is playing out in South Korea’s political discourse.
In the “Romance of the Three Kingdoms,” East Asia’s most important historical novel, the ghost of a dead general, Guan Yu, kills a living one, Xiahuo Dun. South Koreans are drawing parallels in the June 2 regional elections. Will the deceased ex-president’s prime minister take the capital city? Or will the current conservative president’s successor as mayor of Seoul earn a second term and validate Lee Myung Bak’s policies? Will the dead Roh come back to kill the living Lee?
These are “regional elections,” but Seoul is the real prize (it is a “provincial-level city”). The Western provinces always go left. The Eastern provinces go right. However, Seoul and its environs, which make up almost 50 percent of the population, are still very much in play. It is there that the “referendum on Lee Myung Bak’s presidency thus far” will take place and the contestants couldn’t be more symbolic of opposite poles
This election wasn’t supposed to be about North Korea. It was supposed to be about free school lunches and the validity of a huge “city of the future” constructed from scratch on reclaimed land near Incheon. But that quickly changed with the sinking of the Cheonan.
Instead, the quality of the evidence and the canny internationalization of the investigation have reduced left-leaning netizens to venting through cynical (but often quite funny) humor, knowing there is little else to be done. One blogger wrote that tomorrow they expect to find a fragment with Kim Jong Il’s handwriting on it. One of the most widely circulated commentaries is a photo of the back of an iPhone with “number 1” written in blue on it in Korean—just like the torpedo fragment—and the missive that perhaps it was a North Korean iPhone. “1” is also the Grand National Party’s number, and blue is its color—too coincidental for many netizens.
It would be impossible to estimate how many people doubt the evidence, but a web search turns up no shortage of blogs and message boards questioning its veracity. Much buzz on the internet speculates that many left wing politicians are also suspicious of the evidence, but think it politically imprudent to express it publically.
[Cheonan] [Manipulation] [Coverup]
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N.Korean Subs Ply East Sea with Impunity
Between 70 and 80 percent of North Korea's submarine fleet is stationed along the eastern coast, where four shark-class submarines disappeared recently from South Korean radars. Compared to the shallow waters of the West Sea, conditions in the East Sea are so favorable to submarines that it has been referred to as a "paradise" for them.
[Media] [Double standards] [Military balance]
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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.
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N.Korean Top Leadership 'Closely Involved in Cheonan Sinking'
North Korea's Navy Command is believed to have planned the attack on the South Korean Navy corvette Cheonan, which was carried out by the Reconnaissance Bureau, according to a radio broadcaster to the North. Ha Tae-keung, who operates Open Radio for North Korea, says the six North Korean sailors aboard the submarine that attacked the Cheonan were given "hero" status.
"North Korea's Navy Command planned the Cheonan attack around Jan. 8," the birthday of leader Kim Jong-il's son and heir apparent Jong-un, "and the Reconnaissance Bureau led the mission by deploying a submarine and a mini-sub," Ha told a press conference Wednesday.
[Cheonan] [Defector reports] [Maverick]
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60% Approve of Sanctions Against N.Korea
Six out of 10 South Koreans approve of sanctions against North Korea over the sinking of the Navy corvette Cheonan in March.
In a survey by Gallup Korea for the Chosun Ilbo, 60.4 percent of respondents approved of the government's sanctions against North Korea, including a halt to all trade. Some 20.9 disapproved and 18.8 percent gave no answer.
Asked what they think of the government's position that it will immediately exercise its right to self-defense if the North invades South Korean territory, 59.7 percent were in favor and 25.7 percent against.
[Cheonan] [Sanctions] [Public opinion]
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What is North Korea up to?
May 25, 2010 11:07pm | Share
When a regime as brutal, unpredictable and desperate as North Korea puts itself on a war footing and severs all ties with its bitter enemy to the South, then the world has every reason to be worried. Under the circumstances, a fall of just over 3% in the South Korean stock market sounds like a fairly moderate response.
The markets obviously think the risk of war is still fairly small. And I think - and hope - that the markets are right. The fact is that neither side has a real reason for wanting conflict. The North Korean government would risk a humiliating defeat and a loss of power. Unlike in the Korean War, it has no external backer to come to its rescue. South Korea is a rich, sophistictated (sic) society with a rising international profile - why should it risk all that, by being sucked into a conflict with its crazy neighbour to the North? Most South Koreans also have zero desire to shed the blood of their unfortunate compatriots.
[Cheonan] [Bizarre]
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How likely is a war between North and South Korea?
Pyongyang tells military to ready itself for battle, but the North Korean army is ill-prepared, and morale is low
(45)Tweet this (11)
Mark Tran guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 25 May 2010 15.33 BST Article history
The upturned hull of the Cheonan is visible as a police boat passes. South Korea blames the north for sinking the warship. Photograph: Rex Features
The sabres are rattling on the Korean peninsula with reports that Pyongyang has told its military to prepare for war after Seoul's accusation that the North was responsible for the torpedo attack on a South Korean warship.
Even as the level of hostility rises, both sides have sent clear signals they would refrain from initiating any attack. South Korea has said it would not retaliate, despite investigations that blamed North Korea for sinking the Cheonan in March, killing 46 sailors.
Kim Jong-il, the North Korean leader, ordered officers to be ready for combat, but a top commander has said the North would not start the shooting.
Firing test missiles is one thing, but the North Korean army is in no shape to fight against a well-trained, well-equipped modern army from the South, backed by 29,000 US troops. North Korean forces, in contrast, have obsolete kit and morale is believed to be poor.
[Cheonan] [Military balance]
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ChoJoongDong has greatly increased pro-administration coverage, study says
The study analyzed press coverage during the four most recent presidential administrations
An analysis of press coverage of the president over four government administrations has revealed that the number of positive reports of presidential events in the largest three conservative newspapers, the Chosun Ilbo, JoongAng Daily and Dong-A Ilbo, has greatly increased since the Lee Myung-bak government took office.
In April, the Hankyoreh commissioned the Information, Society and Culture Research Institute (ISCRI) to take and analyze a sample of articles from four newspapers including Chosun Ilbo, JoongAng Daily, Dong-A Ilbo and Hankyoreh. The samples covered a period of six months, and were taken from articles written during the second year of each of the four most recent presidential administrations.
[Lee Myung-bak] [Media]
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Conservative newspapers and Lee administration strengthen symbiotic relationship
Analysts say the railroaded media legislation and reciprocal positive newspaper coverage have resulted in an erosion in journalistic integrity
“The Lee Myung-bak administration was made by the ChoJoongDong (Chosun Ilbo, JoongAng Ilbo and Dong-A Ilbo). They have made uncritical wooing their regular practice in order to get their hands on comprehensive programming channels.” -Cheongam Press Foundation board member Choe Min-hui
“In their competition for comprehensive programming channels, the ChoJoongDong are sending positive signals to President Lee Myung-bak.” -Youngsan University Professor Lee Jin-ro
In what way should observers view the pro-Lee Myung-bak administration reporting by conservative media outlets since administration took office? It is unsurprising that conservative newspapers have showed favorable views toward the Lee administration, whose right-wing tendencies are evident in a number of social and economic policies. But certain conservative newspapers are engaging in pro-administration reporting and flattery of President Lee that borders on offensive.
[Lee Myung-bak] [Media]
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CPRK Declares Resolute Actions against S. Korea
Pyongyang, May 25 (KCNA) -- A spokesman of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea Tuesday issued the following statement:
Traitor Lee Myung Bak of south Korea on Monday made public a "statement to the people" over the case of the sinking of a warship of its puppet army, in which he viciously slandered the DPRK again. He formally announced a ban on the passage of DPRK's ships through waters of the south side, "stop to trade and exchange between the south and the north", the exercise of "the right to self-defense" and the reference of the case to the UNSC, daring vociferate about "responsibility" and "apology".
Then the chiefs of the puppet ministries of defense, foreign affairs and trade and unification called a joint press conference at which they ballyhooed about follow-up measures.
This is little short of formally declaring that they would not rule out a war by standing in confrontation with the DPRK to the last.
[Cheonan]
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Military Commentator on Truth bihind "Story of Attack by North"
Pyongyang, May 25 (KCNA) -- A military commentator Tuesday released an article disclosing the truth behind the "story about the north's torpedo attack" on "Cheonan", a warship of the south Korean puppet navy, faked up by the Lee Myung Bak group of traitors.
The article cites facts to prove that the "story about the north's torpedo attack" is a whopping lie cooked up by the group of traitors to weather its crisis in a bid to kick off "north wind" and that the investigation into the cause of the sinking of the ship was not conducted on a scientific basis but unilaterally done to serve its purpose and it was not objective but was based on bias and arbitrariness.
The article asserts that the "story about the north's torpedo attack" floated by the group on May 20 is sheer fabrication cooked up by it in an effort to deliberately link the case with the DPRK from the day the ship's sinking occurred.
"A small amount of powder ingredients", "alloy fragments" and 1.5m-long rear part of torpedo, letters "No. 1" written in the "writing style of the north" and a variety of other "definite material evidence" which the "joint investigation team" produced so far under the manipulation of the group of traitors only arouse strong doubts, and such evidence is sheer nonsense from A to Z, asserts the article.
Recalling that a "civilian-military joint investigation team" and an "international joint investigation team" were involved in the operation to prove that the ship was sunken, the article goes on:
The group of traitors employed all control means, persistently brushing aside various conjectures and opinions not serving the purpose of the scenario worked out by it and threatening and blackmailing people in the whole period of investigation.
[Cheonan] [Evidence]
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KCNA Warns S. Korea's "Theory of Retaliation"
Pyongyang, May 25 (KCNA) -- The south Korean bellicose forces dare vociferate about "punishment" and "retaliation" in the wake of their perpetration of an unpardonable act of branding the DPRK as the real culprit in sinking warship "Cheonan".
They announced "the results of investigation" in which they failed to find out the proper cause of the case and the criminal involved in it, but have since become busy inciting in south Korea an extreme atmosphere of confrontation with fellow countrymen and conducting solicitation diplomacy for "cooperation" in their anti-DPRK campaign.
[Cheonan]
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NK vessel expelled from western sea lane
South Korean trucks enter North Korea through the Dorasan Customs, Immigration and Quarantine Office in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, Wednesday, amid soaring tension on the Korean Peninsula over the March 26 sinking of the South’s Navy vessel Cheonan. / Korea Times
By Jung Sung-ki
Staff reporter
A North Korean cargo ship approaching South Korea's western waters was turned away Tuesday after a radio warning radio from the South Korean Navy, the Ministry of National Defense said Wednesday.
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Briefing -the Cheonan Situation -
Ambassador Han, Duk-soo
Briefing given by ROK ambassador at CSIS, Washington, on 25 May
text of presentation
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N.Korean Forces 'Told to Get Ready for Combat'
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has ordered the military to be ready for combat, a Seoul-based defectors' group said Tuesday quoting a source in the reclusive country.
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4 N.Korean Subs Disappear from Radar
Four 300-ton North Korean submarines disappeared in the East Sea on Monday, the government said Tuesday, and the military is trying to track them down. "Four shark-class submarines left Chaho Base in South Hamgyong Province on Monday" when President Lee Myung-bak delivered a nationally televised speech about sanctions against North Korea, "and their whereabouts are unknown," a government official said. "It is rare for four North Korean subs to disappear at once."
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Torpedo Sinks Inter-Korean Relations to Cold-War Depths
The torpedo that split the South Korean Navy corvette Cheonan in half on March 26 blew inter-Korean relations back to the Cold War. Even at the beginning of this year, President Lee Myung-bak had been tentatively preparing for a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and offered to help the Stalinist country achieve a per-capita Gross National Income of US$3,000 if it gives up its nuclear weapons program. But the sinking of the Cheonan changed everything.
[Cheonan] [SK NK policy]
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After cutting ties, North Korea plans countermeasures
Experts say N.Korea may wait and consider the method and level of a response for cutting trade and exchange
» Officials of the UN Command Military Armistice Commission examine the parts of torpedo at the Ministry of Defense in Yongsan, Seoul, May 25.
North Korea has declared that it also plans to respond in a hardline fashion to the South Korean government’s announcement Monday of ultra hardline measures that impact include military, diplomatic and North Korea policy.
North Korea first said in a warning sent by a Korean People’s Army commander, immediately after Seoul’s announcement Monday, that it would fire directly on South Korean loudspeakers, electronic displays and other equipment used for psychological warfare. It is also highly likely that North Korea will boost the level of its military response to Seoul’s participation in Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) training drills inside and outside the Korean Peninsula.
In an editorial by the Korea Central News Agency (KCNA), North Korea repeated Tuesday that it would immediately enact several hardline measures, including full-scale war, against any punishment, retaliation or sanctions leveled against it by the “treasonous gang,” the South Korean government.
It appears North Korea will continue to demand South Korea accept an “inspection team (investigation team)” to examine the results of the Cheonan investigation.
[Cheonan] [Evidence]
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[Editorial] Punishment of Cheonan opinions contrary to government must stop
Immediately after the announcement last week of the Cheonan investigation findings, the Lee Myung-bak administration held an emergency meeting and announced that it would be cracking down on any and all acts of spreading falsehoods about the cause of the sinking.
Yesterday, the Korean National Police Agency (KNPA) announced that it was carrying out a focused investigation of Internet users spreading false information through Internet bulletin boards and blogs. KNPA stated that the targets for investigation would be malicious conspiracy theories, but if events unfold according to police investigation methods, all critical and analytical posts about the cause of the Cheonan’s sinking or the government’s response could become targets for the crackdown. It is abundantly clear that legitimate questions and differing opinions are being curtailed.
Gagging the South Korean public has already been taking place openly. The Ministry of National Defense and the military have pressed defamation charges against former Cheong Wa Dae (the presidential office in South Korea or Blue House) National Security Strategy Secretary Park Sun-won. Park said, “The wake and communications records from the Cheonan that the South Korean government did not disclose are probably in the hands of the U.S.,” and joint civilian-military fact-finding team member Shin Sang-chul claimed that the Cheonan ran aground.
Prosecutors have handed all of these cases to their public security division
[Cheonan] [Coverup] [Human rights]
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S. Korean Puppets' Moves for Confrontation and War Flailed
Pyongyang, May 23 (KCNA) -- The south Korean puppet authorities finally issued the "results of investigation" in which they groundlessly linked the case of the sinking of a warship with the DPRK despite the accusations and protest at home and abroad. This is an intolerable provocation against the DPRK and an undisguised declaration of a war against it. Rodong Sinmun Sunday says this in a signed commentary.
The commentary goes on: It is also an intentional and premeditated plot to push the inter-Korean relations to total collapse and ignite a war of aggression against the DPRK in collusion with their U.S. and Japanese masters under the pretext of the ship case
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Reinvestigation of Warship Called for in S. Korea
Pyongyang, May 23 (KCNA) -- The South Headquarters of the Pan-national Alliance for Korea's Reunification, the Solidarity for Implementing the South-North Joint Declaration, the People for Achieving Peace and Reunification, the Solidarity of Youth and Students and other civic and social organizations grouping people from all walks of life in south Korea Thursday held a joint press conference to accuse the puppet group of traitors of falsifying the truth about the sinking of its warship.
A press release, which was read out at the conference, referred to the fact that the Lee Myung Bak group made public the "results of investigation" on the same day in which it dismissed the sinking of the warship "Cheonan" as "the north's provocation by armed attack."
The authorities are presenting fragments, which they claim found out in the waters of the incident, as decisive "evidence" but they cannot be related to the sinking of the warship in the light of their possible drifting to the waters at issue from other sea area by the tide, the thick rust formed on the fragments and the fact that the said waters are used for the firing drill of the south Korean army, the release said, and went on:
[Cheonan] [Evidence]
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'Psychological Warfare' Against N.Korea Resumes
Soldiers disassemble loudspeakers at a lookout in Mt. Odu along the demilitarized zone after an agreement in inter-Korean military talks in June 2004 put an end to psychological warfare. (file photo) South Korean soldiers of the Mt. Baekdu Unit in Gangwon Province, the northernmost observation post in the South, were busy on Monday dusting off loudspeakers used in psychological warfare operations that been stored in warehouses for the last six years. They brought them out following the Defense Ministry's announcement on Monday that it will resume propaganda broadcasts across the border.
[Psychowar] [SK NK policy] [Cheonan]
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N.Korea 'to Shoot at Loudspeakers'
North Korea on Monday insisted the South must admit a team of inspectors to verify the findings of an international probe into the sinking of the Navy corvette Cheonan. The National Defense Commission, the North's top policy-making body, warned the South will be held accountable for "fabricating accusations" that the North sank the ship on March 26. The official KCNA news agency quoted a spokesman for the National Defense Commission as saying, "If South Korea has nothing to hide, then it should allow our inspectors to enter."
The statement came in response to President Lee Myung-bak's announcement that Seoul will halt all trade with the North.
A North Korean military commander on Monday responded to Seoul's announcement that it is resuming so-called psychological warfare -- broadcasting propaganda across the demilitarized zone -- by warning the North will fire at South Korean loudspeakers. "If South Korea sets up new tools for psychological warfare such as loudspeakers and leaves slogans for psychological warfare intact, ignoring our demands, we will directly aim and open fire to destroy them," he said. "If the South Korean traitors challenge our rightful response, we will counter with mightier physical strikes to eliminate the root cause of their provocation," KCNA quoted him as saying.
[Psychowar] [SK NK policy] [Cheonan] [Evidence]
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Theories why Pyongyang sank warship
By Christian Oliver in Seoul
Published: May 24 2010 18:47 | Last updated: May 24 2010 19:40
Probably nobody outside Pyongyang knows why a North Korean submarine torpedoed a South Korean warship on March 26, killing 46 sailors.
But these are the top seven theories. Some of them suggest a level of political disintegration in nuclear-armed North Korea that could pose a major risk to stability in east Asia.
[Cheonan] [Collapse]
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[Column] President Lee’s Cheonan gamble
Jeong Seok-gu, Senior Editorial Writer
Determining the cause of the Cheonan’s sinking appeared to have become utterly meaningless yesterday. North Korea has requested permission to send its own review team, and some in South Korea claim that they do not believe the investigation results, but the Lee Myung-bak administration has remained unyielding.
Yesterday, President Lee Myung-bak blocked off his own avenue of retreat by coming out himself and clearly stating, “The sinking of the Cheonan was a North Korean military provocation that was an attack on the Republic of Korea.”
Irrespective of the cause of the sinking, the way in which the Cheonan situation has played out was as good as foreordained, given the characteristics of the Lee administration. The administration has continuously derided the previous ten years of North Korea policy under the Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun administrations as “unilateral giving” and pledged to establish a new relationship between North Korea and South Korea.
If the tension persists into the long term, there is also the risk of dealing a serious blow to the economy, as the Korean peninsula becomes a geopolitical risk factor. We will not be able to withstand such circumstances until North Korea chooses to come out with its hands up, at which point our government will find itself faced with a dilemma.
President Lee is taking this risk and beginning a “Cheonan gamble,” with the nation’s security and the future of the Korean people at stake. The real question, then, is will he succeed?
[Cheonan] [Collapse] [Takeover] [Lee Myung-bak] [Unintended consequences]
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Lee administration announces ultra-hardline measures against N.Korea
Experts say the newly enacted measures signal an effective departure from inter-Korean interchange and cooperation
» President Lee Myung-bak enters the hall at the War Memorial of Korea to announce South Korea’s response to the sinking of the Cheonan in Seoul’s Yongsan neighborhood, May 24.
President Lee Myung-bak began a statement to the people Monday regarding the sinking of the Cheonan with the words, “The political situation on the Korean Peninsula is facing a momentous turning point.” President Lee also said, “things will be change starting now” and pledged to “take resolute measures to hold North Korea accountable.”
Cheong Wa Dae (the presidential office in South Korea or Blue House) spokesman Lee Dong-kwan explained these remarks by saying, “The pre-Cheonan and post-Cheonan Korean Peninsula must be different,” and called the president’s words “a symbolic way of saying that North Korea must change as well if our response is to change.”
One Cheong Wa Dae official likened the president’s North Korea measures to pushing a “reset” button. In other words, the president finally voiced his intention start over from square one, effectively abandoning the relationship of inter-Korean interchange and cooperation perpetuated over 22 years since the Roh Tae-woo administration’s July 7 Declaration in 1988.
One problem experts have cited is that in light of the history of inter-Korean relations, there is little chance of North Korea bending in the face of such measures. Experts have said that with a counter-response from North Korea almost certainly on the horizon, there is a significant possibility of the Korean Peninsula devolving into a Northeast Asian “danger zone” as the risk of an accidental military clash between North Korea and South Korea mounts.
While the Lee administration has already stepped up its emphasis on the alliance with the U.S., there is also a strong likelihood of a correlating deterioration in relations with China. Heightening military tensions on the peninsula could also have negative effects for the economy, as foreign investment shrinks and trade with China is stymied by deteriorating South Korea-China relations.
Some observers are predicting that the Lee administration’s pressure on North Korea will ultimately be a self-defeating policy position.
[Cheonan] [Lee Myung-bak]
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MEST dismisses 134 public school teachers
The dismissal is generating controversy as a disciplinary measure enacted during the indictment period of an investigation before teachers have been proven guilty
The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MEST), under Minister Ahn Byung-man, made the decision to dismiss all 134 current public school teachers indicted by prosecutors on May 6. The teachers were indicted on charges that included membership in the minor opposition Democratic Labor Party (DLP).
[Human rights]
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KBS broadcasts favorable Lee administration coverage, study says
The study reveals the coverage is more favorable than during the Roh Moo-hyun administration and in comparison to both MBC and SBS
An analysis of news reports has revealed that KBS has been giving coverage of the Lee Myung-bak administration that is much more favorable than coverage given during the Roh Moo-hyun administration.
[Media] [Lee Myung-bak]
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N. Korea says will sever all inter-Korean relations
May 25, 2010
North Korea said Tuesday that it will sever all relations with South Korea and won't engage in any inter-Korean dialogue or contact during the remaining tenure of President Lee Myung-bak.
In a statement issued by the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea, the North vowed to cut all communication links with the South and expel all South Korean personnel from the inter-Korean industrial complex in the North's border town of Kaesong.
The North also pledged to freeze and dismantle the Consultative Office for South-North Economic Cooperation in the Kaesong Industrial Zone while completely suspending the work of Panmunjom Red Cross liaison representatives.
The statement went on to say that Pyongyang will ban South Korean ships and airliners from passing through the North's territorial waters and air, in addition to starting an all-out counterattack against the South's anti-North psychological warfare.
[Cheonan]
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NK threatens to cut all relations with South
North Korea said Tuesday that it will cut all relations with South Korea and will have no contact with the Southern authorities during the remaining tenure of President Lee Myung-bak.
In a statement issued by the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea, the North vowed to sever all communication links with the South and expel all South Korean personnel from the inter-Korean industrial complex in the North's border town of Kaesong.
[Cheonan]
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N. Korea effect outweighs Roh effect: Poll
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff reporter
Poll results made public Tuesday showed that the gap between incumbents running in the June 2 local elections in three election battlegrounds and their rivals has widened over the past two weeks.
The Hankook Ilbo newspaper survey of Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi Province showed those who agreed with a multinational investigation team, which concluded North Korea torpedoed the South Korean frigate Cheonan in March, far outnumbered those who were suspicious of the findings.
These two factors - the widening gap between the frontrunners and their rivals, and people's sweeping support for the findings of the cause of the ship sinking - indicate that the "North Korea effect" has been stronger than the late "Roh Moo-hyun effect" in the campaigns.
[Cheonan] [Manipulation]
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72 Pct. Say NK Caused Cheonan Sinking
MAY 22, 2010 08:26
More than 70 percent of South Koreans say they trust the joint investigation team`s conclusion that a North Korean torpedo sank the Cheonan.
The number of South Koreans opposed to a military response toward the North is more than twice as those supporting countermeasures.
The Dong-A Ilbo commissioned the Korea Research Center to survey 700 adults on the announcement of the joint investigation team Thursday to Friday.
According to the survey, 72 percent said the Cheonan incident was caused by North Korea as announced by the investigation team. Only 21.3 percent rejected the announcement.
On Seoul`s most desirable response, the number of respondents opposed to military countermeasures (59.3 percent) was double that supporting the idea (30.7 percent). On if South Korea should stop inter-Korean economic cooperation and close the Kaesong industrial complex, 46.1 percent said no and 42.8 percent said yes.
On government sanctions on North Korea via international cooperation such as referring the incident to the U.N. Security Council and imposing financial sanctions on Pyongyang, 75.9 percent were in favor and 15.2 percent opposed.
On wartime operational command slated for transfer from the U.S. to South Korea in 2012, 42.3 percent said it should be delayed and 9.3 percent wanted an annulment. Only 32.3 percent said they wanted the transfer to proceed.
In the survey, 60.6 percent showed a positive attitude toward President Lee Myung-bak`s response and crisis management capabilities, while 33 percent were negative.
The survey had a 95-percent confidence level and a margin of error of ±3.7 percentage points.
[Cheonan] [Evidence] [Coverup] [Military option] [Sovereignty]
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Police crack down on Cheonan rumors
2010-05-24 17:39
With inter-Korean tension mounting following the deadly attack on a South Korean warship, some have been caught for spreading false rumors.
The cyber crime investigation team of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency booked a 26-year-old man surnamed Choi for violating the telecommunication law, said officials Monday.
Choi sent out last week mobile text messages, using the Defense Ministry’s key number, to notify his friends that they may be drafted into the Army in an emergency.
The message was forwarded or posted online by the alarmed receivers and many made inquiry calls to the ministry, said officials.
“Choi thought it would be fun to scare his friends with the Cheonan scenario, especially while the entire country remained tense about the issue,” said a police official.
“He does not seem to have a political purpose for doing so.”
In a separate case, a 40-year-old man also surnamed Choi was booked on Monday for posting false rumors on the Internet, holding the United States responsible for the ship sinking.
Choi also accused, during police questioning, the present Lee Myung-bak administration of laying the blame on North Korea in order to gain an upper hand in the upcoming local elections.
A 23-year-old surnamed Jang impersonated a Navy lieutenant and claimed that the Navy was to be held responsible for not properly responding to emergency signs of the ship.
The SMPA vowed to lead an extensive investigation on false rumors concerning the sunken ship.
“We will take the strictest measures against those who spread false rumors or defame the deceased soldiers or their families,” said SMPA chief Jo Hyun-oh on Monday in a meeting of senior police officials.
Some of these acts constitute a serious crime against national security and public peace, said officials.
The police will also watch out for all illicit bribery or political slander as the June 2 local elections are nearing, they said.
By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldm.com)
[Cheonan] [[Coverup] [Human rights] [Surveillance]
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Cheonan Findings Raise More Questions
The investigation results in the sinking of the Navy corvette Cheonan were announced last Thursday, but questions and misunderstandings about the evidence presented by the international investigators remain.
? The Torpedo Serial Number
Former unification minister Chung Se-hyun told reporters that the serial number combined with the Korean letter "1 beon" (No. 1), handwritten on the rear of the propulsion shaft of the torpedo that probably sank the Cheonan, is not how the North numbers items since it dates back to Japanese colonial times. Chung said even North Korea's Baekhwawon State Guesthouse uses a different numbering system, and the word "ho" is much more common.
But North Korean defectors deny this, saying the numbering found on the North Korean torpedo is the most commonly used form in the North. North Korea Intellectuals Solidarity, a defectors organization, said "beon" is the most common sequential word used in North Korea, while "ho" is used to distinguish between different types of objects, depending on purpose and use. That means the same parts of a missile produced in a factory would be sequentially numbered "1 beon" and "2 beon," according to the group.
[Cheonan] [Evidence] [Coverup]
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Serial Number on Torpedo Part Points Compellingly to N.Korea
Investigators on Thursday presented evidence pointing to North Korean involvement in the sinking of the Navy corvette Cheonan on March 26, including the font style of the serial number 1 handwritten on the rear part of the salvaged propulsion shaft of a torpedo.
It was compared with a North Korean training torpedo retrieved in 2003, which bears the serial number 4 in Korean.
It is clear that the torpedo was made by the North, given that only two countries, South and North Korea, use Hangeul for inscriptions on weapons such as torpedoes, and the fragment did not come from the South, a spokesman for the investigators explained.
"No. 1" is handwritten on the rear part of the North Korean torpedo's propulsion shaft. /Yonhap
The salvaged propulsion shaft bears "No. 1" handwritten in blue -- not engraved or printed in block letters. It was written with an oil-based marker since it was not erased by the seawater, an officer said. The military is conducting precision analysis to find out if the ink is the same as on the training torpedo.
Air Force Lt. Gen. Hwang Won-dong, the chief of the intelligence analysis team, said, "It seems they wrote the number so that they could easily assemble, repair and maintain torpedoes."
It is unclear why the North fired the torpedo without erasing a number that could be traced, but a member of the investigation team said, "The serial number seems to have been handwritten by an engineer in the process of making the torpedo." Finished torpedoes are wrapped in aluminum casing, so the serial number on the inside component was invisible until the torpedo exploded, escaping the notice of the North Korean military.
[Cheonan] [Evidence]
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Tell-Tale Signs in Cheonan Wreckage
Clockwise from top left, the ammunition storage shows no trace of an internal explosion; the engine room remains intact; the sonar dome bears no traces of running aground; the hull surface of the severed area bears marks from a bubble jet; and the electric wires of the severed area show no signs of burning.
[Cheonan] [Evidence]
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Pyongyang Cites Forgotten Inter-Korean Agreement for Demands
North Korea's defense minister on Saturday suddenly recalled an inter-Korean agreement which he said would allow inspectors from Pyongyang to verify evidence in the sinking of the Navy corvette Cheonan. North Korea had completely neglected and declared null and void the 1992 Basic Agreement between the two Koreas, but now Kim Yong-chun said it obliges the South to "unconditionally allow an inspection group" from the North's National Defense Commission to look into the accusations that Pyongyang sank the ship on March 26.
Kim said in a statement sent to Seoul, "There is no reason for the South not to allow in our inspectors if the findings of its probe are objective and scientific. It is also justified based on Chapter 2 Article 10 of the Basic Agreement and Chapter 2 Article 8 of the Annex."
Chapter 2 Article 10 stipulates that North and South Korea must resolve confrontation and disputes through dialogue. Meanwhile, Chapter 2 Article 8 of the Annex states that North and South Korea will conduct a joint investigation if the agreement is violated to find out who is responsible for the violation and seek ways to prevent a recurrence.
[Cheonan] [Evidence] [Coverup]
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N.Korean 'Mata Hari' Held
South Korea has arrested a woman on charges of spying for North Korea, the National Intelligence Service here said Sunday. Kim Mi-hwa (36) allegedly obtained classified documents about the Seoul subway through a former Seoul Metro employee identified as Oh and reported the information to the North.
She met Oh, who also has been arrested, on the Internet. Kim allegedly works for the North's State Security Department, which also sent another female spy arrested in 2008 for collecting military secrets from officers while posing as a defector.
[Espionage]
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Thousands Commemorate Death of Ex-President Roh
Some 15,000 people attended a ceremony at Seoul Plaza on Sunday evening marking the first anniversary of former President Roh Moo-hyun's death, according to police estimates. Mourners carried yellow balloons and candles.
An altar was set up in front of the Daehan Gate of Deoksu Palace a day earlier, and visited by an estimated 8,000 people over two days.
The organizers estimated that 50,000 people attended the ceremony and the altar had 19,500 visitors.
[Roh Moo-hyun]
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Experts respond to the Cheonan investigation results
Experts seem to agree that additional UN sanctions are likely to follow
Tensions are rising on the Korean Peninsula, with North Korea and South Korea trading tough words since the announcement by South Korea of investigation results that blame a North Korean torpedo attack for the sinking of the Cheonan. The Hankyoreh asked domestic and foreign experts to forecast the future situation on the Korean Peninsula, including inter-Korean relations, and to give advice on a proper response from the authorities in both North Korea and South Korea.??
Former Unification Minister Jeong Se-hyun
The investigation results overturned a statement early on by Defense Minister Kim Tae-young, who had said concretely that it was hard to see the sinking as a North Korean act. I wonder if the current Lee Myung-bak administration’s capacity to collect information and judge the situation is this poor.??
[Cheonan] [Evidence]
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Cheonan issue enters regional election campaigns
Both opposition and ruling parties have used the issue to strengthen their party’s perceived competence in national security issues
» Candidates for the Seoul mayoral elections participate in a Buddha’s Birthday event at the main building of the Jogyesa Temple, May 22.
Ruling and opposition parties have taken different approaches in the lead-up to the regional elections following a joint civilian-military fact-finding team’s announcement Thursday of its investigation finding that a North Korean torpedo was responsible for sinking the Cheonan. The main opposition Democratic Party (DP) has been pouring fuel on the fire of a public trial of the Lee Myung-bak administration’s national security incompetence, while the ruling Grand National Party (GNP) has been urging an end to political strife.
The DP was initially put on the defensive by the ruling party and conservative media, led by the Lee Myung-bak administration, and their push to make war heroes of the lost Cheonan sailors and implicate North Korea in the sinking. In the wake of the incident, the DP has moved into an all-out offensive on the “conservative administration’s natural security incompetence” since the fact-finding team’s announcement. The party is now calling for an apology from the president and reprimands for those responsible for the security failure.?
The message the DP is attempting to communicate to voters is that the ruling government, after taking a hit due to its failure to respond properly, has now been attempting to use the Cheonan issue in the election.
[Cheonan] [Manipulation]
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[Editorial] A more thorough investigation into the Cheonan sinking
Government discussions about establishing the response plan to North Korea have entered full swing following a joint civilian-military fact-finding team’s announcement of the results of its investigation into the cause of the Cheonan’s sinking. This along with North Korea’s decision to step up its offensive against South Korea in response has ushered in an even greater rise in tensions on the Korean Peninsula. This is a situation that calls for focusing on a realistic and effective approach that obtains appropriate results without making the political situation unnecessarily unstable.
The first aspect of this situation warranting mention is that the investigation in the cause of the sinking is not over. The team said that the Cheonan “sank due to a torpedo launched by a North Korean Yono Class submersible,” but this is not sufficient to be a final conclusion that everyone can accept. If idle speculation down the road is to be avoided, the government must present evidence that not even North Korea, the party pointed to as the culprit, can deny. This is why a more thorough investigation is needed in the days ahead. In particular, confidence in the findings can only grow if a broad-ranging investigation is carried out over sufficient time, without concern for a political schedule such as the June 2 regional elections.?
[Cheonan] [Evidence]
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Editorial] A joint North Korea-South Korea investigation in compliance with the Basic Agreement of 1991
Despite the Lee Myung-bak administration’s rejection of their first proposal, the North Korean government has demanded once again that the Lee administration accept an inspection team from the North Korean Military Commission. This is not something that can be viewed simply as a propaganda strategy by North Korea. We need to actively consider a joint North Korean-South Korean investigation, if only to boost the credibility of the results of the joint military-civilian investigation.
The administration’s view of North Korea’s offer to send an inspection team was quite evident in the statements issued by the Defense Ministry. Defense Minister Kim Tae-young said Friday, “It is ridiculous for, say, a burglar or murderer to say he will inspect the scene of the crime.”
Another high-ranking official revealed his displeasure, saying that an “inspection” was something enacted by a high organization unto a lower one. If it will help for a thorough investigation, however, there is no reason to disregard North Korea’s offer from the beginning or react sensitively to the term “inspection.”
The Lee administration claims that the joint military-civilian inspection team revealed the Cheonan was sunk by North Korea, but the situation is not one in which we can say the investigation has been completely finished. If it was a North Korean act, the best approach would be to make them acknowledge their mistakes in a place where they can directly see the results of their actions.
[Cheonan] [Evidence] [Coverup]
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Passive military defense will be ditched: Lee
May 24, 2010
South Korea will no longer tolerate North Korea’s provocations and will change its military posture from passive defense to proactive deterrence, President Lee Myung-bak said today, detailing his country’s response to the communist regime’s attack on a patrol boat in March.
“If our territorial waters, airspace or territory are militarily violated, we will immediately exercise our right of self-defense,” Lee said in an address to the nation, televised live Monday morning.
“From this moment, no North Korean ship will be allowed to make passage through any of the shipping lanes in the waters under our control, which has been allowed by the Inter-Korean Agreement on Maritime Transportation,” Lee said. “The sea routes meant for inter-Korean exchanges and cooperation must never again be used for armed provocations.”
[Cheonan] [Lee Myung-bak]
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Navy to get new course after loss of Cheonan
[NEWS ANALYSIS]
May 24, 2010
A SWAT team patrols the vicinity of the U.S. Embassy compound in central Seoul yesterday as the police beefed up security at major facilities across the nation after the military announced the results of the probe into the Cheonan sinking Thursday. [YONHAP]
The conclusion that a North Korean torpedo sunk the naval warship Cheonan in March provoked many emotions in South Korea - including chagrin that the Navy was caught off guard in the middle of its own waters, totally unprepared for a surprise attack.
Academics, retired military generals and even President Lee Myung-bak have said the military is on the wrong track in general, and has gotten to the point where it is almost ignoring the enemy under its own nose.
[Cheonan] [ROK military]
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Teachers, officials to be fired for playing politics
May 24, 2010
Hundreds of teachers and civil servants indicted this month for joining and paying dues to the Democratic Labor Party will be fired, the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Public Administration and Security said yesterday.
The Education Ministry held a meeting with its audit and inspection officials at local education offices across the country on May 19 and they agreed to dismiss 134 public school teachers and 83 civil servants.
[Human rights] [Democracy]
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General Chun Doo-hwan took power in a coup
Chun Doo-hwan raises his hand upon taking the oath of office as President of Korea on Sept. 1, 1980. / Korea Times file
This is the 21st in a 60-part series featuring 60 major events in Korea's modern history from 1884 till now. The project is part of the 60th anniversary of The Korea Times, which falls on Nov. 1.
By Michael Breen
Korea Times columnist
After the murder of Korean president, Park Chung-hee, in late 1979 by his own intelligence chief, the reins of government were taken up by then prime minister Choi Kyuh-hah.
Chun Doo-hwan, the army general who would eventually take power, was heading the Defense Security Command, the military intelligence agency investigating Park's assassination. Chun's investigators in particular wanted to know if there had been a broader conspiracy. There were unanswered questions about the possible involvement of Chung Seung-hwa, the martial law commander who now held the real power in the country.
[Chun Doo-hwan]
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Full text of President's Lee's national address
The following is the full text of President Lee Myung-bak's address to the nation on Monday.
Fellow Koreans,
I am standing here today, keenly aware that the Korean Peninsula is facing a critical turning point.
My fellow citizens,
The Cheonan was sunk by a surprise North Korean torpedo attack. Again, the perpetrator was North Korea. Their attack came at a time when the people of the Republic of Korea were enjoying their well-earned rest after a hard day's work. Once again, North Korea violently shattered our peace.
[Cheonan] [Lee Myung-bak]
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DP head asks NK to curb rhetoric
Kim Young-jin
Staff Reporter
The leader of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) asked North Korea Saturday to curb its inflammatory rhetoric regarding the recent sinking of a South Korean Navy ship, saying such statements only ratchet up the already soaring inter-Korean tension.
After a weeks-long multinational investigation, Seoul confirmed last Thursday what had long been suspected ? that on March 26, North Korea torpedoed the 1,200-ton Cheonan near the sea border, killing 46 sailors.
North Korea responded immediately to the announcement, denying involvement and threatening "all-out war" if the South takes punitive measures.
DP Chairman Chung Sye-kyun told a political rally in Incheon that such remarks only fuel tensions, leading to decreased stability on the Korean Peninsula.
[Cheonan]
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Beyond naval tragedy
Tit-for-tat retaliation should be ruled out
Seoul officially pinpointed Pyongyang as the attacker of a South Korean warship, Thursday, leading North Korea to deny culpability and threaten a "holy war." The provocation has led the two Koreas to one of the most dangerous points since the Korean War.
The international investigation team concluded that the warship was bisected by the detonation of a non-contact torpedo fired by a North Korean submarine. The team found a serial number and Korean characters on a torpedo propeller fragment. It also discovered traces of explosives in the wreckage similar to a North Korean torpedo South Korea seven years ago.
The provocative sinking indicates that Kim Jong-il has either lost his tight grip on the military or has lost his judgment due to aging and illness. No one in the North, except for Kim, can order such a clandestine act.
In retaliation, the government will be wise enough to exclude a tit-for-tat military action, which will definitely trigger counterattacks. A military clash will jeopardize the lives of 20 million people in Seoul and the surrounding areas. President Lee should not be remembered as a warmonger, however, doing nothing will trigger a strong backlash from the people
[Military option] [Maverick]
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Cheonan issue enters regional election campaigns
Both opposition and ruling parties have used the issue to strengthen their party’s perceived competence in national security issues
Ruling and opposition parties have taken different approaches in the lead-up to the regional elections following a joint civilian-military fact-finding team’s announcement Thursday of its investigation finding that a North Korean torpedo was responsible for sinking the Cheonan. The main opposition Democratic Party (DP) has been pouring fuel on the fire of a public trial of the Lee Myung-bak administration’s national security incompetence, while the ruling Grand National Party (GNP) has been urging an end to political strife.
The DP was initially put on the defensive by the ruling party and conservative media, led by the Lee Myung-bak administration, and their push to make war heroes of the lost Cheonan sailors and implicate North Korea in the sinking. In the wake of the incident, the DP has moved into an all-out offensive on the “conservative administration’s natural security incompetence” since the fact-finding team’s announcement. The party is now calling for an apology from the president and reprimands for those responsible for the security failure.?
The message the DP is attempting to communicate to voters is that the ruling government, after taking a hit due to its failure to respond properly, has now been attempting to use the Cheonan issue in the election.
[Cheonan] [Manipulation]
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Military measures on the table
South reviews its options in face of North’s denial of attack on Cheonan
May 22, 2010
South Korea is considering both military and non-military measures to avenge North Korea’s attack on the Cheonan warship on March 26, the South’s leading defense official said yesterday.
President Lee Myung-bak, meanwhile, called for a “prudent” reaction to the “grave” situation, and South Korean and U.S. forces mulled over raising their alert level on North Korea.
In a press conference yesterday, Defense Minister Kim Tae-young called North Korea’s denials “preposterous” and described the attack as “an act of brutality.” He said the South was consulting with other nations to create “military and non-military countermeasures.”
[Cheonan] [Military option]
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CPRK Accuses S.Korea of Linking Ship Sinking with North
Pyongyang, May 21 (KCNA) -- A spokesman for the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK) issued a statement on Friday assailing the south Korean puppet forces for releasing extremely provocative "results of the investigation" into the sinking of a warship of the south Korean puppet navy in a bid to hurl mud at the north.
The statement noted that the publication of the above-said "results of the investigation" is another extremely ridiculous charade staged by the puppet group in a bid to hurt the dignity of the DPRK, steadily tighten the "sanctions" against it, harm and suffocate it in conspiracy with its U.S. and Japanese masters, much upset by the might of the Republic advancing by leaps and bounds toward a thriving nation.
The Lee Myung Bak group, while working with bloodshot eyes to escalate confrontation with fellow countrymen, drew the conclusion from the day the case occurred that the warship was "sunken by the north" and has since conducted intensive investigation on its basis to hatch a plot, the statement said, and went on:
In the course of nearly two month-long investigation the puppet group fabricated what it called "circumstantial evidence" with conjecture, supposition and random guess. It just produced fragments and pieces of aluminum whose origin remains unknown as "evidence," becoming the target of derision.
Greatly irony is that it deliberately linked the case with the north, talking about the results of the analysis of composition of the unidentified "evidence" without any marking and its size and type.
This is nothing but a shameful deed of those keen on escalating the confrontation with the north.
The Lee group's assertion that the above-said case is linked with the north is the last-ditch effort of those who face destruction as it is a premeditated and deliberate plot to tide over a serious crisis created due to the total failure of its domestic and foreign policies and smoothly stage the "elections to the local self-governing bodies" in a bid to maintain the fascist rule and bring the inter-Korean relations to a collapse.
The puppet forces are now kicking up such fuss as creating atmosphere reminiscent of a wartime situation in south Korea, blustering they would not "rule out a war" and crying out for "counter-measures", urgently evacuating the personnel, equipment and materials of the south side from the areas of the north side and issuing top secret order for taking steps for personal safety and making preparations for withdrawal.
This racket reminding one of an eve of a war goes to prove that the group's recent publication of the "results of investigation" was not a mere clarification of the sinking of the warship but a carefully calculated provocation to seek a pretext for igniting a war of aggression against the north together with outside forces.
The puppet group has created such grave situation on the Korean Peninsula that a war may break out right now.
Pursuant to the statement issued by a spokesman for the National Defence Commission, the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea solemnly declares as follows, speaking for the DPRK government authorities:
Firstly, from now on the DPRK will regard the present situation as the phase of a war and decisively handle all matters arising in the inter-Korean relations to cope with it.
Secondly, in case the puppet group opts for "counter-action" and "retaliation" under the pretext of the sinking of the warship, the DPRK will strongly react to them with such merciless punishment as the total freeze of the inter-Korean relations, the complete abrogation of the north-south agreement on non-aggression and a total halt to the inter-Korean cooperation undertakings.
The DPRK will never pardon anyone hurting its supreme dignity and doing harm to it, warned the statement.
[Cheonan]
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Tension mounts as two Koreas play hardball
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff reporter
The two Koreas are on a collision course after a multinational investigation team announced Thursday that North Korea torpedoed the South Korean frigate Cheonan near their maritime border in the West Sea on March 26.
Foreign policy experts warned of the catastrophic state of security on the Korean Peninsula, calling on the government to sit down with the North.
They said a diplomatic breakthrough may come if the two sides meet and have a frank talk.
Rep. Song Min-soon of the main opposition Democratic Party told The Korea Times over the phone that many questions still remained unanswered even after the investigation team presented its findings.
To quench suspicions, the former foreign minister said the government needs to accept the North's proposal of sending its team to the South to see if what the investigation team found was true.
"The government can also invite Chinese experts, along with the North Korean team, to let them see the evidence in person. If all parties agree that the evidence is clear enough, then we can demand that the North admit its deeds or apologize for what it has done," he said.
Regarding the North's offer to dispatch a team, South Korea said it is not in a position to accept it.
[Cheonan] [Evidence] [Coverup]
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Korea, long divided, will inevitably reunify
Soldiers from South and North Koreas stand guard at Panmunjom inside the Demilitarized Zone that divides the two Koreas in this file photo. The recent North Korean sinking of a South Korean ship has pushed the two Koreas to one of the most dangerous points since the Korean War. / Korea Times
By Ralph Hassig
Adjunct professor
at the University of Maryland University College
Several themes run through the history of inter-Korean relations. First, the Korean nation was divided by foreigners. Second, the division was sustained because of the incompatibility of the two Korean governments. Third, despite their sharp political divisions, the two Koreas have begun to develop economic and social relations. And fourth, the two Koreas will inevitably reunify, although their sharp diversion will make the social and economic costs of reunification staggering.
[Unification]
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Int'l Experts Agree on Cheonan Findings
Investigators have concluded that the Navy corvette Cheonan was attacked by a North Korean-made sonar-tracking torpedo laden with 250 kg of high explosives on March 26, which caused it to break in two.
Investigators believe that a 130-ton North Korean midget submarine left a naval base at Cape Bipagot around March 23, took a detour on the high seas to infiltrate South Korean waters near Baeknyeong Island, attacked the Cheonan at the night of March 26 and returned to base around March 28.
The motor and running gear of the torpedo that hit the Navy corvette Cheonan is displayed at the Defense Ministry in Yongsan, Seoul on Thursday.
Yoon Duk-yong, who led the international team of investigators, on Thursday told reporters, "We have reached the clear conclusion that the Cheonan was sunk as the result of an external underwater explosion caused by a torpedo made in North Korea." The team cited "conclusive evidence" -- the rear part of a torpedo collected from the sinking site -- which was analyzed based on classified materials the South Korean military obtained.
"They perfectly match the schematics of the CHT-02D torpedo included in introductory brochures exported by North Korea," Yoon said. "No. 1" was handwritten on the rear part of the torpedo's propulsion shaft and matches the serial number on another North Korean torpedo the military found seven years ago, Yoon added.
The combination of number and Korean character is used only by North Korea.
Experts from the U.S., the U.K., Australia and Sweden (sic) were present at the press conference. Rear Adm. Thomas Eccles of the U.S. Navy, a member of the team, said the investigators used various accounts and scientific tools for the analysis and agree with the conclusion of the investigation.
[Cheonan] [Evidence]
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The Nation Has the Right to Defend Itself
President Lee Myung-bak on Thursday vowed to take decisive steps against North Korea. "It was clearly revealed through the international investigation team's scientific and objective investigation that the Cheonan sinking was a military provocation by North Korea," Lee was quoted as saying. Lee said he will "take resolute countermeasures against North Korea and make it admit its wrongdoings through strong international cooperation and return to the international community as a responsible member."
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N.Korea Threatens War Over Cheonan Report
North Korea on Thursday threatened "all-out war" if South Korea takes punitive action over the sinking of the South Korean Navy corvette Cheonan on March 26. The South Korean government in an official report the same day announced that the shipwreck was caused by a North Korean torpedo attack.
A spokesman for North Korea's powerful National Defense Commission called the findings a "fabricated farce" and offered to send an inspection group to South Korea. It threatened "drastic measures including an all-out war" if Seoul takes sanctions against it. "Such an all-out war would be a holy war to completely wipe out the base of the traitorous clique and establish a great unified nation," he said.
The statement was issued around 10:30 a.m. Thursday, a mere 30 minutes after a South Korean government spokesman began reading the report on the findings -- an unprecedentedly swift reaction from a normally glacial regime.
"It seems that they released a prepared statement immediately after the investigation team showed the decisive evidence, a torpedo propeller, to the public," a government official said. "This is proof that the North thinks the situation is serious."
The statement said there must be "no shred of doubt about the material evidence to be produced before the inspection group" from North Korea.
But Lt. Gen. Park Jung-yi, a co-director of the South Korean civilian-military investigation team, said, "The two sides are still under an armistice agreement, so the proper procedure is for the UN Military Armistice Commission to determine how the North was involved and then tell Pyongyang of its own findings."
[Cheonan] [Evidence] [Military option]
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N.Korea Claims Cheonan Probe a Plot to Hurt Relations
North Korea on Thursday anticipated its implication in the sinking of the South Korean Navy corvette Cheonan, claiming the probe was "a planned, intentional provocation to destroy inter-Korean relations."
A statement by the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland, said the South Korean "puppet regime" was committing "an outrageous act in the verge of death to tide over the crisis by deceiving public opinion to pull through the June 2 local elections," according to the official Korean Central News Agency.
"As the shipwreck occurred, the puppet regime saw a golden opportunity to drive inter-Korean relations to catastrophe. From the start [North Korean] involvement was treated as a fait accompli, and it has been talking about responses and retaliation ever since. Today it finally raised a cry of war."
The statement warned the "traitors" that the North will respond to any joint action by South Korea and the U.S. over the sinking with "merciless, firm punishment."
[Cheonan] [Manipulation] [Military option]
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Sinking of the Cheonan Self-Inflicted, N.Korea Says
North Korean authorities are portraying the sinking of the South Korean Navy corvette Cheonan near the de facto maritime border as a self-inflicted disaster, Open Radio for North Korea reported Thursday.
Quoting North Korean sources, the defector radio station said the regime in a recent lecture given to party officials said, "A warship of the puppet South Korean Navy, engaged in an aggressive war exercise along with the United States, was buried in the West Sea." It said this was a "self-inflicted drama" by "hostile forces" bent on proving "the righteousness of their hostile policy" toward North Korea.
It added this was part of a broader plot by the South Korean government to keep the situation on the Korean Peninsula insecure.
North Korea is using the shipwreck as an opportunity to tighten its hold internally, the radio station said. The regime warned party officials to "raise our guard against the enemy's schemes," it added.
[Cheonan]
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How Did N.Korea Sink the Cheonan?
Investigators say a North Korean midget submarine and a support vessel left a naval base on the west coast two to three days before the attack on the South Korean corvette Cheonan on March 26 and returned to port two or three days later.
They said the submarine and support vessel left the base on Cape Bipagot, around 80 km from Baeknyeong Island on March 23 and maneuvered out of the sight of South Korean and U.S. intelligence. The ship apparently accompanied the submarine to provide support and offer aid in case the sub encountered difficulties. The submarine took a detour out into open seas and arrived in waters to the west of Baeknyeong Island on March 25. There it is believed to have awaited its prey 10 m under the surface for about a day.
The military believes that the submarine found the Cheonan on the evening of March 26 and fired a CHT-02D torpedo at the vessel from 3 km away. At the time of the attack, the Cheonan was in waters that are 30 to 40 m deep, while the North Korean submarine was further out at sea where the water is between 40 to 50 m deep, posing no problems to launching a torpedo.
"When the sub attacked the Cheonan at 9:22 p.m. on March 26, the tides in the West Sea were slow, and it looks like the North strategically planned the attack," said a military source. The sub apparently returned to Cape Bipagot on March 28.
The submarine class was unknown until now. The 130-ton sub ranks between the shark (325 tons) and a Yugo class (85 tons). Air Force Lt. Gen. Hwang Won-dong, the chief of the intelligence analysis team, said, the sub "is similar to the shark-class submarine and was built recently for export, equipped with night-vision equipment and other high-tech gadgets, as well as a unique structure to enhance its stealth capabilities." Intelligence experts say the sub is the same as the three "Ghadir" class midget submarines the North exported to Iran.
At first, investigators suspected a shark-class sub of the attack because they were unaware of the movements of this class, dubbed "Yono" or salmon. But by backtracking information, they apparently discovered the new class. "Two North Korean subs left the naval base two or three days before the attack, but we were unable to detect this," said Sohn Ki-hwa of the intelligence team said. "This will not lead to major shifts in our intelligence assessment capabilities, but we will improve what needs to be improved."
But questions linger why the Cheonan, a battleship equipped with sonar equipment, was unable to detect the movements of the sub or the launch of the torpedo. "The Cheonan's sonar is an old model with a limited range, so there's a strong possibility that it failed to detect the torpedo which was launched from far away," said a military source.
Experts say North Korean subs and other ships probably conducted several infiltration and surveillance operations in waters near Baeknyeong Island. "We have no information whether North Korea conducted prior surveillance of the waters where the attack was carried out, but we believe it carried out training missions in waters off North Korea's coast with similar underwater conditions," Hwang said.
[Cheonan] [Evidence][Intelligence]
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Korean Population Forecast to Shrink from 2020
Korea's population is projected to decline from 2020, turning from a steady rise since the 1950s.
According to an OECD report, the population in 2020 is expected to decline by 0.02 percent compared to the year before, then shrink by 0.12 percent in 2025 and by 0.25 percent in 2030.
The government says it is drawing up policies to counter the nation's low birthrate as a population decline can greatly hurt the national competitiveness.
[Ageing society]
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Seoul left with few options over torpedo attack
By Christian Oliver in Seoul
Published: May 20 2010 18:52 | Last updated: May 20 2010 18:52
South Korean officials who were whisked to the president’s war bunker on the night of March 26 thought war was imminent. The torpedoing of a corvette, with the loss of 46 lives, was the bloodiest North Korean attack since the bombing of a South Korean airliner in 1987.
But during the past two months, the debate in Seoul has been reduced to arguments over cutting the small amounts of project funding that still go to the North. Although Seoul is vowing a “stern response” – with the full support of Japan and the US – the international community has little that can frighten Kim Jong-il, the state’s reclusive dictator.
[Cheonan] [Military option]
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North Korea threatens South over report on sinking of warship
Pyongyang dismisses finding that it torpedoed navy ship and says it will wage 'all-out war of justice' if punished
(28)Tweet this (34)Tania Branigan in Beijing guardian.co.uk, Thursday 20 May 2010 16.43 BST Article history
Investigators blame North Korea for sinking of navy ship Link to this video
Tensions between North and South Korea escalated dramatically today following the publication of an international report which concluded that a South Korean warship was sunk by a torpedo from a North Korean submarine in March. The report by civilian and military investigators, who worked with experts from countries including Britain, said there was "no other plausible explanation" for the sinking of the Cheonan, which caused the deaths of 46 sailors.
But the findings prompt as many questions as they answer for Seoul, which has limited options in response.
Professor Hazel Smith, a North Korea expert at Cranfield University, said she did not believe Pyongyang ordered the torpedo strike. "There is no mileage in it for them ... [and] it simply doesn't fit into any pattern," she said.
"The command and control lines are simply not functioning ... If it wasn't an accident – which it could be because [their hardware] is so decrepit – it could be some unit which was simply going its own way."
Other analysts disagree, believing the country's strict hierarchy remains largely unchanged.
Smith added: "In the North Korea statements you get all the bluster, but they are also saying 'show us the evidence'."
That suggested that the leadership might be open to discussions on the issue. But neither Seoul nor Washington has the back channels to Pyongyang that previous administrations used, Smith said.
[Cheonan] [Evidence] [Maverick]
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North Korea's secrecy means attack will remain a mystery
The report on the sinking of the Cheonan tells us what happened and how. It does not tell us why
(1)Tweet this (4)Comments (18) Julian Borger, diplomatic editor guardian.co.uk, Thursday 20 May 2010 19.25 BST Article history
North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. Photograph: Alain Nogues/Corbis
The report on the sinking of the Cheonan tells us what happened and how. It does not tell us why. As with much of what the odd, opaque regime in Pyongyang does, the motivation remains a mystery.
Understanding the inner workings of the regime is critical to formulating a response, but even those who study North Korean tea-leaves full-time admit that judgments mostly come down to informed guesswork.
"Each person has their favourite theory," said Richard Bush, a former US intelligence officer and Korea expert now at the Brookings Institution in Washington. Bush believes the regime, paralysed by Kim Jong-il's failing health and uncertainty over his successor, ordered the sinking to avoid returning to the six-party talks – negotiations over North Korea's nuclear programme with the US, China, South Korea, Japan and Russia, which have been stalled since late 2007.
[Cheonan] [Inversion] [Media]
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Questions raised following Cheonan announcement
The huge security breach and torpedo markings have both caused experts to raise questions about the investigation findings released Thursday
» The label “1 beon,” No.1, is written on the shaft of the propeller of torpedo presented by the joint military-civilian investigation team as the evidence of North Korea’s attack, May 20.
The joint civilian-military investigation team on Thursday presented propeller fragments from a North Korean torpedo as conclusive evidence as to the cause of the sinking of the Cheonan. A number of questions remain, however, such as why no North Korean submarine was discovered after the Cheonan was attacked.
Stealth Submarine?
The investigation team said that a North Korean Sango Class Submarine and Yono Class Submarine had left a naval base on the West Sea some two to three days prior to the attack and returned to base two to three days after the attack. They determined that the Yono Class Submarine carried out the attack.
A Sango, Shark Class Submarine, weighs 300 tons, while a Yono, Salmon Class Submarine, weighs 130 tons.
Until now, military officials have been saying they did not detect any unusual military movements from North Korea.
“From March 24 to 27, the military detected two North Korean Sango Class Submarines, but the likelihood of their connection to the sinking was judged to be weak.” said Defense Minister Kim Tae-young before the National Assembly on April 2.
“We have not detected any unusual movements from the North Korean military,” said U.S. Combined Forces Command Commander General Walter Sharp through a press release on March 28, two days after the sinking.
In other words, at the time, the Sango Class Submarine that was detected around the time of the sinking was not believed to be directly connected with the sinking, while the Yono Class Submarine was not detected at all.
The investigation team confirmed that around the time of the attack, they had been unable to clearly identify the submarines that had left the base. A military intelligence official said later, through comprehensive analysis of all sorts of intelligence material, including communication intercepts, video footage and human intelligence, they belatedly learned that a Yono Class Midget Submarine had left with its mother ship.
This explanation, however, failed to clarify all questions. A joint South Korean-U.S. naval exercise involving several Aegis warships was underway at the time, and the Cheonan was a patrol combat corvette (PCC) that specialized in anti-submarine warfare. The question remains whether it would be possible for a North Korean submarine to infiltrate the maritime cordon at a time when security reached its tightest level and without detection by the Cheonan.
“If the North Koreans were to try an ambush in revenge for the Daecheong Island naval clash, they would have done so only after they were certain of success following several infiltration exercises in the waters off Baengnyeong Island,” said a former Navy admiral. “The investigation team announcement basically stated that North Korea had planned an attack with a low probability of success on paper and successfully carried it out on one attempt, but that assessment lacks military credibility.”
In fact, if things transpired as the investigation team announced, then a North Korean submarine penetrated the South Korean-U.S. surveillance net, waited precisely where the Cheonan would be approaching, sank the Cheonan in one shot, and then leisurely disappeared after completely avoiding a naval anti-submarine net that included the Naval ship Sokcho and Linx helicopters.
Some have stated that while it was possible the Cheonan was unable to detect the submarine, it remains difficult to understand how it could not detect the torpedo launch.
“A submarine is supposed to be difficult to detect military, but most torpedoes can be detected,” said Kim Jong-dae, editor-in-chief of defense journal D&D Focus. “It is doubtful they would have been completely unable to detect the launch.”
One military official explained they were unable to detect the torpedo since the one used in the attack had a different audio range from those ascertained by the South Korean military, but some respond that it is difficult to understand why they would not have the audio information contained even in brochures regarding a torpedo that has been produced since the 1980s. Accordingly, in order to clear up these doubts, some are calling for the military authorities to release the communication intercepts to show the North Korean submarine‘s intent to attack. The investigation team, however, has reportedly been unable to secure intelligence data that would confirm clearly the circumstances of the attack besides the fact that the Yono Class Submarine left its base in North Korea.
Torpedo Fragment?
There are also some questions regarding the North Korean torpedo fragment, which was presented as conclusive evidence. First, some experts stated that the marking 1 beon, No. 1, presented as key evidence that it was a North Korean torpedo, is different from typical North Korean markings.
“North Korea does not frequently use the term beon,” said one North Korea expert. “Instead, they use the term ho, as in Daepodong 1-ho, Gangnam 1-ho, etc.”
In fact, a North Korean training torpedo obtained by the South Korean military seven years ago was marked “4 ho.” In light of the fact that the beon discovered on the torpedo fragment and the ho found on the training torpedo are different, the investigation team could not have conducted a precise handwriting analysis. The team said it would consider a plan to determine the similarity through ink analysis, but it is uncertain whether a clear answer will result.
Both appear to have been written by hand inside the torpedo for organization and maintenance purposes, but why one is beon and the other ho is a question.
[Cheonan] [Evidence] [Coverup]
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N.Korea’s reinvestigation proposal alters Cheonan situation
Analysts say the proposal is a double-edged sword for the S.Korean government
» The wreckage of propeller presented as evidence by the joint military-civilian investigation team and the blueprint showing the actual size of the torpedo are displayed at South Korean Ministry of National Defense, May 20.
In its response to the South Korean government’s announcement Thursday of its finding that the Cheonan sank due to a torpedo attack by a North Korean submersible, North Korea played a card no one saw coming. The country offered a formal counterproposal by its highest organization of authority, the National Defense Commission, to “send a Democratic People’s Republic of Korea National Defense Commission review team to the site in South Choson to verify the evidence.”
Directly, this is an expression of North Korea’s intention to send a fact-finding team to prove that it had nothing to do with the sinking of the Cheonan. But in reality, there is a far deeper and broader strategy at play in the context of inter-Korean relations and the geopolitics of the Korean Peninsula.
“It is unprecedented in the history of inter-Korean relations for North Korea to propose sending an investigation team in response to an issue that has been deemed a ‘military provocation by North Korea,’” said Kim Yeon-chul, professor of unification studies at Inje University. “The Cheonan situation has entered a new phase.”
“Regardless of whether the government accepts or rejects North Korea’s proposal, the situation will inevitably unfold in a different manner from what the government had initially planned for the days ahead,” said a former senior figure who worked at the Unification Ministry and the Cheong Wa Dae (the presidential office in South Korea or Blue House).
If the South Korean government does accept North Korea’s proposal, it may signal the beginning of an effective “reinvestigation” of the cause of the Cheonan’s sinking. The government’s announcement Thursday of investigation findings would be downgraded in status to “reference material.” If the government does not accept the proposal, there is a considerable chance that it will find itself in a difficult position in future discussions with the international community, including the UN Security Council. This is due to the possibility of divisions appearing in international opinion as North Korea steps up its counteroffensive by arguing that the South Korean announcement was fabricated, and China and Russia support the North Korean proposal. In this sense, North Korea’s counterproposal to send its own review team is a double-edged sword for the South Korean government.
“The government has found itself in a confining situation,” said Former Unification Minister Jeong Se-hyun
Also noteworthy is the fact that in addition to North Korea’s formal announcement of an “NDC spokesperson’s statement,” the country also made an informal proposal through an inter-Korean authorities’ channel to send the review team on Friday and Saturday. This indicates the possibility that the proposal may not simply be a political offensive.
“North Korea’s proposal is positive in that it is an attitude of ‘finding the truth based on the facts’ rather than a military response,” said Jang Yong-seok, research director at the Institute for Peace Affairs. “If the government rejects North Korea’s proposal, it could face an irremediable crisis of trust within and outside the country.”
“The government must accept North Korea’s proposal,” said Jang.
“There also appears to be an intention on North Korea’s part of using this review team proposal as part of an attempt at new dialogue between North Korean and South Korean authorities,” said a former high-ranking official. The official added, “It suggests that so long as South Korea does not enact provocative measures, North Korea does not want tensions to heighten due to the Cheonan issue.”
Perhaps because of this complex array of factors, the government has shown a cautious approach to the proposal from North Korea.
“The investigation will begin at the UN Command Military Armistice Commission according to the armistice agreement, and we only need to follow that procedure,” said Park Jung-yi, military head of the joint civilian-military fact-finding team.
Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]
[Cheonan] [Evidence] [Joint Korean]
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Citizens travel to Owl Rock in remembrance of late President Roh Moo-hyun
Citizens most often used the words “democracy,” “conviction,” “informality” and “integrity” in remembering Roh
» Visitors perform a bow to honor late President Roh Moo-hyun in front of his portrait on the memorial altar beside his grave, May 19.
At around 1 p.m. Tuesday, the spring rain was unusually heavy in the village of Bongha in Jinyeong Town, Gimhae City, South Gyeongsang Province. From Owl Rock, the fields of Bongha appeared covered in inky clouds. It was from here, on Owl Rock, that late President Roh Moo-hyun took his own life on May 23 of last year.
[Roh Moo-hyun]
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North Korean midget sub blasted Cheonan
[Cheonan fallout] Fisherman found propeller unit in sea on Saturday
May 21, 2010
The salvaged North Korean propeller and a blueprint showing the actual size of the torpedo were displayed yesterday at South Korea’s Defense Ministry in Seoul. By Kim Tae-seong
The marking “1 beon” (“No. 1” in English) is written on the shaft. [AP]
A North Korean midget submarine infiltrated the waters south of the inter-Korean maritime border and fired a torpedo at the Navy corvette Cheonan on March 26, sinking the ship and killing 46 sailors, South Korea’s Defense Ministry announced today.
The ministry said a team of South Korean, American, Australian, Canadian and British (sic) intelligence authorities concluded that a torpedo sunk the patrol boat. The announcement of the conclusion of the investigating team, and a question-and-answer session with journalists, was broadcast live yesterday.
“We want to say that the international experts unanimously agreed to the conclusion,” said Army Lt. Gen. Park Jung-yi, the military chief of the civilian-military probe, dismissing earlier media speculations that there had been a rift among the investigators. “The foreign experts participated in all parts of the investigation and discussions and a consensus was reached through such efforts.”
The 71-member investigation team has been looking into the case since early April. The team includes 25 Korean civilian experts, 22 military specialists and three members recommended by the National Assembly. Another 24 experts from the United States, Australia, England and Sweden (sic) also participated.
[Cheonan] [Evidence]
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Probe satisfies some, others have doubts
May 21, 2010
The government’s announcement that a North Korean torpedo was responsible for sinking the Cheonan provoked mixed reactions from politicians and civic groups yesterday - while family members of the 46 sailors killed aboard the sunken Navy corvette said they’d known it all along, and were just waiting for the government to admit it.
The ruling Grand National Party stated that conclusive evidence proves the North’s involvement in the disaster, and promised strong retaliation against the communist country.
“North Korea must pay the price for committing this crime,” GNP chairman Chung Mong-joon said yesterday during a party meeting.
The GNP and the main opposition Democratic Party reached an agreement to set up a parliamentary fact-finding committee to review the probe’s findings and discuss appropriate countermeasures against the North.
But at the same time, the DP and other opposition parties continued to express fierce hostility toward the government’s “lax” defense measures, and attacked President Lee Myung-bak and the ruling party, saying that the president should make a public apology for the disaster. They also attacked the GNP for scheduling the results of the probe just before the June 2 mayoral and gubernatorial elections.
“The government must take full responsibility for its poor defense which led to the loss of the 46 innocent lives,” said DP chairman Chung Sye-kyun during a radio interview yesterday. Chung added that the president must apologize to the family members of the sailors lost on the Cheonan, and that the whole cabinet should submit their resignations.
DP spokesman Woo Sang-ho went further, calling the probe results insufficient proof and questioning whether the North was involved at all.
Liberal civic groups, including Solidarity for Peace and Reunification of Korea and People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, said that the probe results are insufficient. “We will not admit the probe results,” a member of one group said. He said that the military’s presence on the investigative team biased the results.
“The probe started after the conclusions had already been drawn,” he said.
[Cheonan] [Evidence]
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Nations condemn North’s actions
China remains cautious as Seoul mulls responses, seeks diplomatic support
May 21, 2010
Photos show the severed sections of the Cheonan’s hull. Provided by the Joint Press Corps
South Korea’s allies yesterday rallied around Seoul in condemning North Korea, as the South tried to leverage diplomatic support to fashion a response against Pyongyang.
The White House said in a statement that the North had engaged in “unacceptable behavior” that deepens the country’s isolation in the world.
[Cheonan]
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N.K. emerges as key election issue
2010-05-20 19:34
Voiceware Text Washington to discuss referring ship sinking to U.N. Korea to develop southern coastal regions Long talk on cell phone may increase risk of cancer Korea, Bangladesh leaders discuss economic ties Top 10% of households exceeds W10m per month Regulator to pick channel operators this year Police team given credit for curbing international crimes Deutsche Bank aims for top 3 in warrant market Korea, Bangladesh leaders discuss economic ties Health Minister Jeon stresses protecting mothers and children
Seoul made it official Thursday that North Korea is responsible for the deadly sinking of its warship in March, sending political parties to redo their math ahead of the nationwide local elections now just two weeks away.
A multinational team of investigators concluded a North Korean torpedo wrecked and sank Seoul’s Navy corvette Cheonan near their tense western sea border, a revelation that will likely highlight national security and swing the nation’s political pendulum considerably to the right ahead of the June 2 poll. The March 26 explosion cost the lives of 46 sailors in one of the worst naval disasters in South Korean history.
The increased tension on the Korean Peninsula is widely viewed to work in favor of President Lee Myung-bak’s conservative party in the elections, which will serve as a mid-term test for Lee and remap the political topography ahead of the 2012 presidential vote.
[Cheonan] [Manipulation]
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Seoul confirms NK torpedo sank warship
A South Korean military officer briefs reporters on a heavy torpedo that exploded under the Navy ship Cheonan on March 26 and tore the vessel apart. It was recovered in mid-May by a trawler near the site of sinking.
/ Korea Times photo by Ryu Hyo-jin
Parts of propulsion system collected from sinking site
By Jung Sung-ki
Staff reporter
Investigators said Thursday that a North Korean submarine attacked the South Korean Navy ship Cheonan with a heavy torpedo on March 26.
Pyongyang immediately refuted the statement and requested to send a team of inspectors to Seoul to examine the authenticity of the probe, claiming investigators fabricated their findings.
Some critics have argued the JIG was not looking into other possible causes than a torpedo strike. They have suggested that the ship could have been sunk as a result of an accidental collision with a reef or an unexploded mine left over from the Korean War.
[Cheonan] [Evidence]
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Evidence scooped up by fishing trawler
By Cho Jae-hyon
Staff Reporter
The parts of a torpedo, the "conclusive evidence" indicating that North Korea was responsible for the sinking of the warship Cheonan, were recovered by a pair of fishing trawlers.
Yoon Deok-yong, the chief of the joint civilian-military investigation team, said trawlers were mobilized to contribute to the search efforts, taking into consideration the water currents around the site of the sinking.
"A pair of propellers, propeller motor and steering gear which were scattered on the seabed near Baekryeong Island were collected by a pair of fishing trawlers," Yoon said at a press conference.
China, North Korea’s closest ally, yesterday called for “calm and restraint” after the probe’s results were announced. Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu was quoted by AFP as saying, “All parties should stay calm and exercise restraint. We stand for safeguarding regional peace and stability, promoting the six-party talks and the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.”
Ma also said China would make its own “assessment” of the probe results, although he said that didn’t mean Beijing would conduct an independent investigation.
Military options appear limited for South Korea because the U.S. Combined Forces Command reserves the right to deter war on the peninsula under the Combined Delegated Authority. Instead, the two nations’ armed forces could have a large, combined anti-submarine exercise later this year.
[Cheonan] [Evidence] [China NK] [Miliary option] [Sovereignty]
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Questions raised about 'smoking gun'
By Jung Sung-ki
Staff reporter
Despite hard evidence provided by investigators looking into the cause of the March 26 sinking of the Cheonan, questions linger about the cause of the incident.
The multinational investigation team said a detonation of a heavy torpedo with a net explosive weight of 200 to 300 kilograms tore the Navy ship apart.
It said two North Korean submarines, one 300-ton Sango class and the other 130-ton Yeono class, were involved in the attack. Under the cover of the Sango class, the midget Yeono class submarine approached the Cheonan and launched the CHT-02D torpedo manufactured by North Korea, it said.
The CHT-02D uses acoustic/wake homing and passive acoustic tracking methods, the team said. Acoustic homing torpedoes track and target the engine noise from a ship.
But some experts raised the question if a midget submarine could have a system to carry and control such a precision-homing heavy torpedo.
``Sango class submarines are known to be used by North Korean commandos in infiltrating areas or laying mines, but they apparently do not have an advanced system to guide homing weapons," an expert at a missile manufacturer told The Korea Times on condition of anonymity. "If a smaller class submarine was involved, there is a bigger question mark."
Investigators said North Korea's navy possesses a fleet of 70 submarines ? 20 1,800-ton Romeo class submarines, 40 Sango class and 10 midget subs.
"Given the findings combined with the operational environment in the vicinity of the site of the incident, we assess that a small submarine is believed to be the weapon system used in the attack," Rear Adm. Moon Byung-ok, spokesman for the Joint Military-Civilian Investigation Group, told reporters. "We confirmed that two submarines left their base two or three days prior to the attack and returned to the port two or three days after the assault."
Moon's remarks also raised a question about the credibility of South Korean and U.S. authorities. Earlier, South Korean and U.S. military authorities confirmed several times that there had been no sign of North Korean infiltration in the West Sea.
In addition, Moon's team reversed its position on whether or not there was a column of water following an air bubble effect.
Earlier, the team said there were no sailors who had witnessed a column of water. But during Thursday's briefing session, the team said a soldier onshore at Baengnyeong Island witnessed "an approximately 100-meter-high pillar of white," adding that the phenomenon was consistent with a shockwave and bubble effect.
The JIG displayed fragments of a torpedo propeller during Thursday's press conference, citing it as critical evidence. It said the torpedo parts was recovered by fishing vessels May 15, and the debris, including 5x5 bladed contra-rotating propellers, a propulsion motor and steering section, perfectly match the schematics of the CHT-02D torpedo.
But it seemed that the collected parts had been corroding at least for several months.
Yoon Duk-yong, co-head of the investigative group, denied the suspicion.
"The corrosion status of the fragments and wreckage of the Cheonan is almost identical," Yoon said.
Investigators claim the Korean word written on the driving shaft of the propeller parts was same as that seen on a North Korean torpedo discovered by the South off the west coast seven years ago.
"The word is not inscribed on the part but written on it," an analyst said. "I personally trust the investigators tried their best to prove the link between North Korea and the Cheonan sinking, but the lettering issue is dubious."
[Cheonan] [Evidence]
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South Korea says probe points to North in sinking of ship; Pyongyang denies involvement
By Blaine Harden
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, May 20, 2010; 8:40 AM
SEOUL -- South Korea said Thursday that an international investigation has found overwhelming evidence that one of its warships was sunk by a torpedo made in North Korea and that the weapon was fired by a North Korean submarine.
"There is no other plausible explanation" for the sinking of the Cheonan on March 26 near a disputed sea border between the two Koreas, said the report. It was based on the findings of 50 experts from South Korea who worked with 24 investigators from the United States, Australia, Britain and Sweden (sic).
[Cheonan] [Evidence]
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The sinking of the Cheonan: Another Gulf of Tonkin incident
May 20, 2010
By Stephen Gowans
While the South Korean government announced on March 20 that it has overwhelming evidence that one of its warships was sunk by a torpedo fired by a North Korean submarine, there is, in fact, no direct link between North Korea and the sunken ship. And it seems very unlikely that North Korea had anything to do with it.
That’s not my conclusion. It’s the conclusion of Won See-hoon, director of South Korea’s National Intelligence.
On August 2, 1964, the United States announced that three North Vietnamese torpedo boats had launched an unprovoked attacked on the USS Maddox, a US Navy destroyer, in the Gulf of Tonkin. The incident handed US president Lyndon Johnson the Congressional support he needed to step up military intervention in Vietnam. In 1971, the New York Times reported that the Pentagon Papers, a secret Pentagon report, revealed that the incident had been faked to provide a pretext for escalated military intervention. There had been no attack. The Cheonan incident has all the markings of another Gulf of Tonkin incident. And as usual, the aggressor is accusing the intended victim of an unprovoked attack to justify a policy of aggression under the pretext of self-defense.
[Cheonan][Evidence] [Manipulation]
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Serial number found on torpedo fragments collected from sunken ship site
2010/05/19 10:35 KST
SEOUL, May 19 (Yonhap) -- South Korea has found a serial number marked on torpedo propeller fragments collected from the scene where one of its naval ships sank, officials said Wednesday, the latest piece of evidence that North Korea attacked the vessel.
The number was written in a font used in North Korea, and investigators have concluded that the 1,200-ton patrol ship Cheonan came under a North Korean torpedo attack near the Yellow Sea border on March 26 before breaking in half and sinking, officials said.
Foreign experts from the United States, Britain and Australia working as part of an international team looking into the sinking have also agreed to the assessment that a torpedo attack sank the Cheonan, officials said.
[Cheonan] [Evidence]
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(6th LD) (Cheonan attack) Seoul vows retaliation after confirming N.K. torpedo sank warship
2010/05/20 18:21 KST
By Kim Deok-hyun
SEOUL, May 20 (Yonhap) -- South Korea promised to sternly punish North Korea Thursday after a multinational probe found the communist regime was behind the deadly sinking of its warship Cheonan. Pyongyang's highest office immediately struck back with a strongly worded statement denying any involvement and warning of an "all-out war."
A South Korean-led five-nation team of specialists concluded that a North Korean submarine slipped into southern waters and attacked the 1,200-ton Cheonan with a heavy torpedo on March 26. They cited parts of a North Korean torpedo collected from the scene near the sides' Yellow Sea border and other evidence.
"(We) will take resolute countermeasures against North Korea and make it admit its wrongdoings through strong international cooperation and return to the international community as a responsible member," South Korean President Lee Myung-bak told Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in phone talks, according to Lee's office.
[Cheonan] [Evidence]
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(Cheonan attack) Rival parties to launch fact-finding panel on ship sinking
SEOUL, May 20 (Yonhap) -- Rival parties agreed Thursday to set up a parliamentary fact-finding committee to look into the sinking of the South Korean warship Cheonan and discuss other joint measures, following an earlier announcement by international investigators that North Korea is responsible for the attack that killed 46 sailors.
The agreement was reached by floor leaders of the ruling Grand National Party (GNP) and the main opposition Democratic Party (DP), though the parties reacted differently to the findings of the international (sic) investigation team.
The results were released amid an increasingly fierce campaign for the June 2 mayoral and gubernatorial vote.
In South Korean elections, the North Korea factor is believed to have a critical impact on voters, with any provocations by Pyongyang believed to spur anti-communist sentiment in favor of a conservative win.
But Lee Myeong-sook, a housewife in Seoul, said, "North Korea is said to be the culprit, but after so many rumors and so few facts that circulated in the past two months, honestly I can't believe it ... North Korea would definitely deny it, and I'm worried this tension might lead to an armed clash."
[Cheonan] [Evidence] [Manipulation]
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Irrefutable Evidence Implicates N.Korea, Says Lee
President Lee Myung-bak told Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama on Wednesday that Seoul has found conclusive evidence that North Korea sank the Navy corvette Cheonan in March. "In announcing the results of the Cheonan probe tomorrow, clear and definitive material evidence will be presented that no country in the world and no one can refute," Lee told Hatoyama on the phone, according to Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Lee Dong-kwan.
[Cheonan] [Evidence]
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Unity Is Key to Overcoming This National Crisis
Investigators probing the sinking of the Navy corvette Cheonan discovered the propeller of the torpedo at the bottom of the West Sea where the ship sank. The propellers of torpedoes usually bounce off the main body during an explosion, and investigators guessed correctly that they would still be around on the sea floor. After comparing and analyzing the serial number on the propeller with that of a North Korean torpedo the military got hold of seven years ago, investigators apparently reached the conclusion that the font and the way the characters are engraved are identical. Traces of gunpowder found in the funnel of the Cheonan were also found to be the same as those used in North Korean torpedoes. Investigators in fact discovered North Korea's fingerprints on the weapon.
[Cheonan] [Evidence]
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N.Korea Claims Cheonan Probe a Plot to Hurt Relations
North Korea on Thursday anticipated its implication in the sinking of the South Korean Navy corvette Cheonan, claiming the probe was "a planned, intentional provocation to destroy inter-Korean relations."
A statement by the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland, said the South Korean "puppet regime" was committing "an outrageous act in the verge of death to tide over the crisis by deceiving public opinion to pull through the June 2 local elections," according to the official Korean Central News Agency.
[Cheonan] [SK NK policy] [Manipulation]
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North Korea threatens South over report on sinking of warship
Pyongyang dismisses finding that it torpedoed navy ship and says it will wage 'all-out war of justice' if punished
(8)Tweet this (24)Tania Branigan in Beijing and agencies guardian.co.uk, Thursday 20 May 2010 07.27 BST Article history
Investigators blame North Korea for sinking of navy ship Link to this video
Tensions between North and South Korea escalated dramatically today following the publication of an international report (sic) which concluded that a South Korean warship was sunk by a torpedo from a North Korean submarine in March. The report by civilian and military investigators, who worked with experts from several other countries, said there was "no other plausible explanation" for the sinking of the Cheonan.
Pyongyang immediately dismissed the finding as a fabrication and threatening to wage an "all-out war of justice" if punished for the disaster.
Today the South Korean inquiry report said parts of the torpedo recovered from the site of the sinking were compatible with a North Korean weapon recovered several years ago. Intelligence gathered with allies – the US, Britain and Australia – showed it was likely that North Korean submarines were operating near the site, with similar vessels from other countries inside their territorial waters.
[Cheonan] [Evidence] [Media]
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South concludes North sunk Cheonan; North threatens war
May 20, 2010
A North Korean torpedo was responsible for sinking the South Korean Navy warship Cheonan in the western waters south of the inter-Korean maritime border, South Korea’s Defense Ministry announced today.
North Korea immediately challenged the report and threatened to go to war if the South retaliates or imposes sanctions. The North's highest power organ, the National Defense Commission, chaired by leader Kim Jong-il, also said it intends to send a verification team to South Korea to disprove the probe's findings.
Shortly before the North’s statement, the South’s Defense Ministry said a team of South Korean, American, Australian, Canadian and British intelligence authorities (sic) concluded that a small North Korean submarine was responsible for firing the torpedo at the patrol-combat corvette on March 26
[Cheonan] [Evidence] [Media] [Intelligence]
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Seoul confirms NK torpedo sank warship
By Jung Sung-ki
Staff reporter
Investigators said Thursday that a North Korean submarine attacked the South Korean Navy ship Cheonan with a heavy torpedo on March 26.
Pyongyang immediately refuted the statement and requested to send a team of inspectors to Seoul to examine the authenticity of the probe, claiming investigators fabricated their findings.
South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan criticized North Korea for breaching the Armistice Agreement signed at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.
Yu pledged that the government will take firm measures on the incident with the help of the international community.
The Joint Civilian-Military Investigation Group (JIG), which includes 24 foreign experts from the United States, Britain, Australia and Sweden (sic), announced a North Korean midget submarine torpedoed the Cheonan at night.
Some critics have argued the JIG was not looking into other possible causes than a torpedo strike. They have suggested that the ship could have been sunk as a result of an accidental collision with a reef or an unexploded mine left over from the Korean War.
[Cheonan] [Evidence]
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/20/world/asia/20diplo.html?hp
Diplomatic Storm Brewing Over Korean Peninsula
Lee Jae-Won/Reuters
South Koreans in Seoul have attached mourning messages to photographs of the 46 sailors killed when their ship sank in March.
By MARK LANDLER
Published: May 19, 2010
WASHINGTON — South Korea’s formal accusation that a North Korean torpedo sank one of its warships, killing 46 sailors, will set off a diplomatic drumbeat to punish North Korea, backed by the United States and other nations, which could end up in the United Nations Security Council.
On Thursday morning in Seoul, the South Korean government presented forensic evidence, including part of a torpedo propeller with what investigators believe is a North Korean serial number.
They said it proved that the underwater explosion that shattered the 1,200-ton corvette, the Cheonan, in March near a disputed sea border with the North was caused by the detonation of a torpedo.
On Monday, South Korea is expected to push for the case to be referred to the United Nations, and the United States plans to back Seoul “strongly and unequivocally,” according to Obama administration officials.
[Cheonan] [Evidence]
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South Korea says probe points to North in sinking of ship; Pyongyang denies involvement
By Blaine Harden
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, May 20, 2010; 3:04 AM
SEOUL -- South Korea said Thursday that an international investigation has found overwhelming evidence that one of its warships was sunk by a torpedo made in North Korea and that the weapon was fired by a North Korean submarine.
"There is no other plausible explanation" for the sinking of the Cheonan on March 26 near a disputed sea border between the two Koreas, said the report. It was based on the findings of 50 experts from South Korea who worked with 24 investigators from the United States, Australia, Britain and Sweden (sic).
[Cheonan] [Evidence]
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S. Korea archaeologists return after excavating ancient palace in N. Korea
By Sam Kim
SEOUL, May 18 (Yonhap) -- A group of South Korean archaeologists returned home Tuesday after ending a months-long joint excavation of an ancient palace in North Korea, a Unification Ministry official here said.
The 11 archaeologists had teamed up with their North Korean counterparts since March to excavate the remains of Manwoldae, a royal palace of the Goryeo Kingdom (918-1392), in the North Korean border town of Kaesong.
Data picture
The group decided to return about three weeks earlier than scheduled because enough progress was made, ministry spokesman Chun Hae-sung said, dismissing speculation that rising tension on the peninsula forced them to come back.
[Cheonan] [Joint Korean]
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North Korea and the sinking of the Choenan – Special editorial
May 19th, 2010
Author: Peter Drysdale
The tension on the North Korean Peninsula is as high as it has been for many years. Not many in South Korea worried greatly about North Korea’s nuclear test or missile tests in the last few years, but 45 servicemen were killed in the sinking of the Cheonan, the corvette was lost and South Korean vulnerabilities are raw. Many prominent conservatives in South Korea want to strike back. President Lee has played it with a cooled head.
A retaliatory strike has enormous risks. It exposes Seoul. There are serious dangers of escalation. It sets the course of engagement even further back.
If the evidence is a clear cut as is widely assumed, there are grounds for decisive action in the UN – a debate in the Security Council leading towards intensification of sanctions. The US, Japan, Russia and also China must join that effort.
There has been too little initiative all round to deal with the broader, including economic, and security anxieties that underpin the North Korean problem when opportunity arose. Immiserisation of the North is neither a pretty nor a feasible solution to the problem we now all face. Ironically, President Lee Myung-Bak has more assets in forging a break-through than anyone. The very close relationship between Lee and Rudd could help.
This editorial is part of a special series on the aftermath of the Cheonan sinking.
[Cheonan] [Evidence] [Military option]
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The Cheonan and uncertainty over the Six Party Talks
May 19th, 2010
Author: Jong Kun Choi, Yonsei University
The South Korean Navy’s 1200 tonne Cheonan (PCC-722) was a Pohang-class corvette vessel commissioned in 1989. Its primary mission was coastal patrol with an emphasis on anti-submarine operations. It sank at 21:50 local time on Friday, March 26 about 1 nautical mile off the southwest coast of Baengnyeong Island near the disputed Northern Limit Line between the two Koreas in the Yellow Sea. The ship had a crew of 104 men, 58 crewmembers were rescued. 46 sailors sank with the ship, later found to be dead. This is one of the deadliest incidents since the end of the Korean War. During the rescue efforts, one veteran non-commissioned UDT officer also died in the water. The ship was craned out of the ocean and found to be split into two halves.
South Korea has been shaken by the tragic incident and the government is now trying to determine the cause of the ship’s sinking. Tension, and a growing sense of uncertainty, loom large around the Korean peninsula.
What we know so far is that investigators determined that the ship’s sinking was caused by a ‘non-contact underwater explosion’ most likely from a torpedo. Also, the rumor has it that traces of gun powder in the wreckage of the ship were identified confirming that it was in fact a torpedo. If this turns out to be true, this finding will further back the suspicion that the Cheonan did not sink because of an accident. All in all many point at North Korea as the prime suspect saying ‘no other country would have done it.’ The domestic political atmosphere in South Korea increasingly regards North Korea as the perpetrator of the incident.
[Cheonan] [Evidence]
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Serial Number of Torpedo Traced to N.Korea
Investigators have found at the 11th hour found a desperately needed smoking gun (sic) linking North Korea to the sinking of the Navy corvette Cheonan, a government official claimed Tuesday. Investigators apparently discovered a propeller from the torpedo that likely sank the ship in relatively good condition in waters where it sank and the serial number inscribed on it is North Korean.
"U.S., Australian and other foreign experts who took part in the investigation agree that a North Korean torpedo caused the Cheonan to sink and that this is the smoking gun following various pieces of the torpedo and traces of gun powder that had been gathered so far," the official said.
Another government source said fishing trawlers deployed in gathering evidence found a fairly intact torpedo propeller buried in the mud at the bottom of the ocean over the weekend. "It's a double propeller that obviously comes from a torpedo," the source added. Investigators apparently compared the propeller to one attached to a North Korean training torpedo that the South Korean military obtained seven years ago and proved that the two were made of similar materials.
Torpedoes are powered by two sets of propellers that rotate in opposite directions. Investigators are said to have conducted a computerized simulation and reached a tentative conclusion that a 250 kg, mid-sized sonar-tracking torpedo exploded 3 m below the gas turbine room of the vessel. They have apparently proved that the traces of explosives found on the Cheonan are similar to some of the propellants used in the sample North Korean torpedo.
The military has transported to a Navy base in Pyeongtaek the diesel engine of the Cheonan, which had been separated from the vessel during the explosion, and is looking for traces of gunpowder. The gas turbine has also been found on the sea floor and authorities are planning to hoist it out of the water.
[Cheonan] [Evidence]
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Cheonan Investigators Find Pieces of Torpedo Propeller
Investigators have apparently discovered pieces of a propeller from a torpedo, which could provide valuable clues to exactly what caused the Navy corvette Cheonan to sink on March 26.
"In a search using fishing trawlers, we recently discovered pieces of debris that are believed to have come from the propeller of the torpedo that attacked the Cheonan," a high-ranking government source said Monday. "Analysis of the debris shows it may have originated
[Cheonan] [Evidence]
-
Tensions on Korean peninsula escalate prior to release of Cheonan report
Experts have expressed concern that S.Korean conservatives are adopting a reckless North Korea diplomacy strategy
The clouds of war are gathering in inter-Korean relations as the Lee Myung-bak administration has reportedly planned to effectively announce Thursday that the sinking of the Cheonan was caused by a North Korean torpedo attack. Clashing in words and deeds, North Korean and South Korean authorities are being rapidly drawn into a hair-trigger crisis situation. While North Korea is still only at the level of making warnings and threats to South Korea in words, South Korea has already effectively stepped into action.
If private interchange and cooperation and the Kaesong Industrial Complex are halted, after serving as a safety valve for inter-Korean relations even amid the deteriorating relations between authorities since the Lee Myung-bak administration took office, catastrophe becomes inevitable,” said an expert at one institute who request anonymity. “I am fearful of what historical disaster will be brought about by the ignorance and incompetence of conservative groups that find their identity in North Korea-bashing at a time when a carefully crafted North Korea strategy is urgently needed.”
[Cheonan] [SK NK policy] [Lee Myung-bak]
-
Serial number found on torpedo fragments
Korea has found a serial number marked on fragments of torpedo propeller collected from the scene where the petrol ship Chonan of the navy sank in March, Yonhap News reported Wednesday.
The number was written in a font used in North Korea, and investigators have concluded that the 1,200-ton corvette came under a North Korean torpedo attack near the West Sea border on March 26 before breaking in half and sinking, Yonhap quoted officials in Seoul said.
Foreign experts from the United States, Britain and Australia working as part of an international team have also agreed to the assessment that a torpedo attack sank the Cheonan, officials said.
The defense ministry, however, denied a media report that a Korean word was also written on the propeller pieces.
South Korea plans to officially announce the investigation's outcome on Thursday. The announcement is expected to include the result of a computer simulation that a heavy, acoustic homing torpedo with a warhead weighing about 250 kilograms struck the Cheonan.
Investigators have also found that traces of explosives found in the Cheonan's wreckage were identical in composition to propellant explosives contained in a stray North Korean torpedo that South Korea recovered from the southern coast seven years ago.
[Cheonan] [Evidence]
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How will N. Korea respond to sanctions?
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff reporter
What will happen if South Korea, which believes North Korea was responsible for the sinking of the naval ship in March, takes the case to the U.N. Security Council?
Some experts, including security authority Baik Seung-joo, told The Korea Times that the North will feel mounting pressure and this may lead them to conduct a third nuclear test in the worst-case scenario.
``Nations usually conduct four or five tests to complete their nuclear weapons system,'' Baik, chief of the Center for Security and Strategy
at the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, said Tuesday.
Cho Myung-chul, research fellow of the state-run Korea Institute for International Economic Policy, indicated South Korea's calling for the global action against the North may come at the cost of the closing down of the joint Gaeseong Industrial Complex.
``In the wake of the sinking of the naval ship, inter-Korean relations turned from bad to worse. The North took the consequence as worsening relations took a heavy toll on the impoverished economy as trade between the two Koreas decreased,'' he said.
``If South-North relations turn worse than now and if the North calculates it will not benefit from the joint economic program any more, the North will try to replace South Korea, probably with China, as a new trade partner."
[Cheonan] [Sanctions] [China NK]
-
Evidence of torpedo attack secured
By Jung Sung-ki
Staff reporter
Investigators looking into the sinking of a South Korean warship in March have secured "decisive evidence" to prove that the frigate was sunk by a torpedo strike, a senior military official said Tuesday.
Traces of explosive collected from the wreckage are similar to those of a North Korean torpedo found in the West Sea seven years ago, the official said on condition of anonymity.
The investigation team discovered pieces of the propeller from the torpedo, he said.
The Ministry of National Defense neither confirmed nor denied the allegations.
The team, including experts from the U.S., Britain, Australia and Sweden, plans to announce the results of its investigation into the naval disaster Thursday.
Sources said the government has already drawn up a draft report on the cause of the Cheonan sinking and circulated it to security-related Cabinet ministers.
The report virtually points to North Korea as the culprit, the sources said.
Countermeasures include a large-scale joint submarine exercise of the South Korean and U.S. Navies, they said.
"A large-scale ROK-U.S. naval exercise would be one of the most practical countermeasures," a military source told The Korea Times. "It would not only help bolster the ROK-U.S. combined maritime defense readiness but also send a warning signal to North Korea." A U.S. nuclear-powered submarine may join the exercise, he added.
[Cheonan] [Joint US military] [Evidence]
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South Korea to Accuse North of Torpedo Attack
By CHOE SANG-HUN
Published: May 18, 2010
SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea has concluded that a North Korean torpedo sank one of its warships in March, killing 46 sailors, according to government officials and domestic news reports on Tuesday. South Korean officials are preparing to announce the results of their investigation later this week.
The much anticipated finding will accuse North Korea of committing one of the worst military provocations on the Korean Peninsula since the end of the Korean War, deepening tensions between the countries. North Korea, denying involvement in the sinking, has vowed to retaliate against any attempt to link it with the March 26 explosion that broke the South Korean corvette in half near a disputed sea border. But the South has pledged “resolute measures,” including economic sanctions, once the investigation is complete.
“We will blame a torpedo attack and link it to North Korea,” said a government official briefed on the investigation, adding that the authorities were still fine-tuning an official announcement to be made on Thursday.
He refused to discuss forensic evidence that will be cited in the report.
[Cheonan] [Evidence]
-
South Korea to officially blame North Korea for March torpedo attack on warship
By John Pomfret and Blaine Harden
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, May 19, 2010; 2:18 AM
South Korea will formally blame North Korea on Thursday for launching a torpedo at one of its warships in March, causing an explosion that killed 46 sailors and heightened tensions in one of the world's most perilous regions, U.S. and East Asian officials said.
South Korea concluded that North Korea was responsible for the attack after investigators from Australia, Britain, Sweden and the United States pieced together portions of the ship at the port of Pyeongtaek, 40 miles southwest of Seoul
Of the countries aiding South Korea in its inquiry, officials said that Sweden had been the most reluctant to go along with the findings but that when the evidence was amassed, it too agreed that North Korea was to blame. A spokesman for the Swedish Embassy declined to comment.
[Cheonan] [Evidence] [Coverup]
-
Cheonan Investigators Find Pieces of Torpedo Propeller
Investigators have apparently discovered pieces of a propeller from a torpedo, which could provide valuable clues to exactly what caused the Navy corvette Cheonan to sink on March 26.
"In a search using fishing trawlers, we recently discovered pieces of debris that are believed to have come from the propeller of the torpedo that attacked the Cheonan," a high-ranking government source said Monday. "Analysis of the debris shows it may have originated from China or a former Eastern-bloc country like the former Soviet Union."
If conclusive evidence is found for North Korea's role in the attack, the government plans to implement sanctions against the North immediately after announcing the results of the investigation on Thursday.
[Cheonan] [Evidence]
-
The DP Is Making a Fool of Itself Over the Cheonan Sinking
The leaders of South Korea's four opposition parties -- the Democratic, Democratic Labor, Creative Korea and National Participation parties -- as well as a handful of civic groups issued a joint statement on Monday saying they cannot trust the results of the investigation into the sinking of the Navy corvette Cheonan as long as authorities refuse to reveal information about the incident from the Korean Navy Tactical Data System as well as communications and navigational records of the vessel.
They demanded the government unveil those records and called on President Lee Myung-bak to apologize publicly and for the defense minister and other high-ranking military officers to resign.
It is easy to understand that the opposition parties may fear that the results of the investigation will work against them at the polls.
Surveys show 60 to 70 percent of South Koreans believe North Korea was behind the sinking of the Cheonan and the evidence gathered so far by an international team of investigators supports this.
[Cheonan] [Evidence]
-
N.Korean Regime Denies Hand in Cheonan Sinking
North Korea on Monday denied a hand in the sinking of the South Korean Navy corvette Cheonan on March 26. Yang Hyong-sop, the vice president of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly, said, "We will not tolerate the confrontations and warmongering schemes of the puppet regime of South Korea," according to the North's state-run media on Monday.
This is the first time that a high-ranking North Korean official has directly denied involvement. Last month, North Korea's military issued a statement saying claims of the North's involvement were "fabrications." The latest comments were viewed as a precursor to vehement protests by North Korea as an investigative team probing the sinking plans to announce its findings on Thursday.
Yang made the comments in an address marking the 30th anniversary of the May 18 Democratic Uprising in the South Korean city of Gwangju. He accused the South of "driving the political situation to the edge" by forcefully linking North Korea with the sinking.
[Cheonan]
-
Arrest of S.Korean Kaesong Staffer a Sign of Trouble to Come?
North Korea arrested another employee of a South Korean company in the Kaesong Industrial Complex on Friday evening, questioned him for three or four hours and then released him, it was confirmed Monday."
The North Koreans took issue with internal North Korean lecture materials the man had," a senior South Korean government official said. "He was released as it seemed unintentional, but for a moment we thought it would become second Yu Seong-jin case."
-
Lee administration cannot afford to sacrifice inter-Korean relations
The Lee Myung-bak administration has reportedly decided to terminate all projects that are currently conducted by government ministries with North Korea. Prior to this, the Lee administration virtually told private companies engaged in processing by commission trade with North Korea to halt their operations. The Lee administration’s stance seems to be that they are willing to sever every slim thread connecting North Korea and South Korea, using the Cheonan disaster as a pretext.
Regardless, inter-Korean exchanges and cooperation have greatly decreased since the launch of the Lee Myung-bak administration.
-
Meeting Marks Anniversary of Kwangju Uprising
Pyongyang, May 17 (KCNA) -- A Pyongyang meeting was held at the Central Hall of Workers on Monday to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Kwangju Popular Uprising of south Korean people.
-
Pieces of torpedo screw found
The joint investigation team has reportedly found screw pieces of torpedo, probably causing the sinking of the Navy patrol ship Cheonan, near the border waters in the West Sea where the incident took place in late March.
The Korea Broadcast System (KBS) reported Tuesday that the team has launched close checking of the findings in a non-destructive testing. "The manufacturers of the screw are shortlisted to two countries Russia and China," KBS reported, quoting government officials who were not identified.
[Cheonan] [Evidence]
-
Cheonan probe detects TNT type
Same explosives used in former communist bloc, including North
May 14, 2010
Traces of explosives used in the former communist bloc, including North Korea, were found on the wreckage of the sunken South Korean Navy warship Cheonan, a senior military official told the JoongAng Ilbo
Meanwhile, the National Defense Ministry has asked the National Assembly to replace a civilian member of the Cheonan probe for having caused the public to mistrust the investigation.
“Shin Sang-cheol, who joined the investigation at the recommendation of the Democratic Party, has rarely participated in the probe,” said Won. “He also made public his personal opinions, bringing about distrust of the investigation team. We have recently made an official request to the National Assembly for his replacement.”
Shin runs an Internet political magazine, “Seoprise.” He has recently claimed that the Cheonan collided with another vessel. The joint investigation team of the military and civilian experts, however, said in two official briefings that the Cheonan sank due to an external explosion.
“The ministry’s letter to National Assembly Speaker Kim Hyong-o had pointed out Shin’s lack of expertise,” Won said. “Since he joined the investigation team at the recommendation of the legislature, we have made a polite request.”
The ministry’s request for Shin’s removal at such a late stage in the investigation is seen as a rare move, as the outcome is scheduled to be announced next week.
[Cheonan] [Evidence]
-
Seoul Must Be Ready for the Cheonan Probe Findings
The government will announce around Thursday the results of a multinational investigation into the cause of the sinking of the Navy corvette Cheonan.
For close to two months, South Korean investigators have worked alongside experts from Australia, Sweden, the U.K. and the U.S. to analyze the cause of the sinking. According to findings leaked so far, they believe the Cheonan was split in half by a torpedo and that the most likely culprit is North Korea. The final task is to discover irrefutable evidence that North Korea is guilty.
The announcement will be the country's official statement to the international community. It is of the utmost importance for the international community to move in unison so Seoul can put a resolute response into action. To do that, Seoul must come up with a smoking gun that will prevent the culprit from denying any involvement.
Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, who visited Gyeongju on Saturday to attend a meeting with the foreign ministers of South Korea and Japan, said, "A scientific and objective investigation is important." Yang's comments show that Beijing will consider a response only if it determines that the results of South Korea's investigation are scientific and objective enough. If the announcement fails to convince Beijing, it would become difficult to get the UN Security Council to impose sanctions against North Korea.
[Cheonan] [Evidence]
-
N.Korean Commandos 'Stepped Up Underwater Training Last Year'
North Korean commandos increased underwater training exercises last year and bought underwater communications equipment from China and Russia, Japan's Kyodo News reported Sunday.
Citing diplomatic sources in the U.S. and South Korea, Kyodo said North Korean commandos "quadrupled the number of underwater training drills last year."
[Media]
-
Using the Cheonan investigation announcement for political gain risks diplomatic relations
The countdown has begun to the announcement of the cause of the Cheonan sinking. The Lee Myung-bak administration is reportedly scheduled to announce Thursday investigation findings that the ship was sunk by North Korea. It appears President Lee Myung-bak will follow the announcement with a variety of follow-up measures, including a special address and the announcement of sanctions on North Korea. The prediction is that inter-Korean relations will enter a phase from which they cannot return as it is clear North Korea will respond strongly, claiming its own innocence.
As the announcement of the findings will mark this grave of a watershed, it must be so precise and certain that nobody can add to it. It is problematic to say, “Who else would do it, if not North Korea?” while presenting only circumstantial evidence. Through the press, many stories have emerged, such as explosive residue being found on the Cheonan’s funnel and fragments of an aluminum-magnesium alloy used in the skin of torpedoes being discovered. However, we do not believe the Lee administration will be able to accept those findings and will confidently announce to the international community that it was a North Korean attack. This is because within South Korea itself, there are a startling array of objections, such as the hull below the waterline would have to be full of explosive residue if some was discovered on the funnel. We are curious as to whether the investigation team has secured some decisive piece of evidence that it has yet to release to the media.
[Cheonan] [Evidence] [Manipulation]
-
North Demands South Stop Psychological Warfare
Pyongyang, May 16 (KCNA) -- The south Korean puppet forces have become evermore frantic with their anti-north psychological warfare aimed at driving the inter-Korean relations to confrontation and conflict. In this connection the Korean People's Army served them a grave warning on April 10 that it would immediately take relevant measures unless the latter takes steps for halting it and officially notifies it of them.
However, the puppet military authorities of south Korea tried to patch up the situation created by the above-said psychological warfare designed to achieve a sinister aim by sending a reply notice little short of a mere excuse and an attempt to evade their responsibility.
The anti-north psychological warfare is getting more pronounced due to such irresponsible attitude on the part of the puppet military authorities.
In this connection the head of the north side delegation to the north-south general-level military talks sent the following notice to the military authorities of the south side on May 16:
Despite our side's repeated demands for stopping the above-said psychological warfare, the south side again committed such crime as encouraging and conniving at the operation conducted from May 1 for massively scattering leaflets, transistors and DVDs defiling the ideology and system in the north and one dollar notes with human scum involved.
[Psychowar] [Softwar]
-
[Exclusive] Lee directs W3 tril. rise in arms buying
Seoul seeking to counter NK’s asymmetrical warfare
By Jung Sung-ki
Staff reporter
President Lee Myung-bak has directed an increase in expenditure for weapons systems to cope with North Korea's asymmetrical and irregular warfare, a government source said Sunday.
Lee called for spending 3 trillion won ($2.6 billion) on arms improvement programs, the source said. The President made the decision during the first meeting of a newly established presidential task force for revamping national security and defense plans last Thursday, he said.
For example, buying helicopters for maritime and air-to-ground operations will gain speed in order to help prevent the infiltration of North Korean special forces into the South, or to drop our commandos into enemy areas," the source noted.
Other weapons to be affected by a potential increase in defense expenditure would include upgrades of warships' sonar, deployment of a sound surveillance systems (SOSUS) for islands near the sea border, development of three-dimensional anti-air radar and an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) bomb, and the acquisition of bunker-busting bombs, he said.
"On the other hand, arms programs aimed at deterring North Korea's conventional threats could be put on the back burner for the time being," he added, apparently referring to the production of the K2 Black Panther main battle tank and K21 infantry fighting vehicle.
[Military balance] [Takeover] [Threat]
-
Hallyu to cushion culture shock after S-N reunification
Prof. Park Jung-sook
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff reporter
More and more North Koreans can access the latest soap operas that were aired in South Korea just a couple of days earlier, according to North Korean defectors.
Some North Korea watchers claimed approximately 80 percent of North Koreans are being informed on what's going on outside the hermetic kingdom through radio or contraband CDs.
[Hallyu] [Culture war] [Takeover]
-
South Korea's Navy Cruises Toward Oceangoing Force
By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
ULSAN _ President Roh Moo-hyun appeared to be moved by the ``most brilliant achievement'' of the country's defense technology during a ceremony to launch South Korea's first Aegis destroyer on Friday.
His 15-minute speech was emotional and the President expressed full confidence that the Navy would sail toward a powerful oceangoing force to keep up with neighboring naval powers.
``This is the most brilliant achievement of our national defense science and technology combined with our shipbuilding technology, and a demonstration of our strong willingness to build independent defense capabilities,'' Roh said, apparently referring to the arms race between Japan and China. The ceremony was held at Hyundai Heavy Industries' shipyard here.
North Korea also responded bluntly to the historic commissioning of the ship, named ``Sejong the Great,'' by test-firing a short-range missile into the East Sea.
Speculations varied but some analysts said the test-launch was likely an expression of the communist regime's jitters over South Korea's ever-increasing naval capabilities.
Currently, the Navy operates nine German-made Type-209 submarines (1,300-tons), all diesel and electric powered; and a Type-214 submarine (1,800-ton), named Sohn Won-il, developed under technical cooperation with HDW of Germany.
[Cheonan] [Military balance]
-
Ploughshares into Swords:
Economic Implications of South Korean Military Spending
by John Feffer
South Korea is currently engaged, once again, in a largescale,
expensive modernization of its military that aims
to provide the country with a more robust and self-suffi -
cient defense. The timing of this considerable increase in
military spending might seem, at fi rst glance, rather odd.
Korean economic growth has been relatively anemic in
the past few years. Meanwhile, the conventional military
power of its chief adversary, North Korea, has steadily
declined, and, until recently, South Korean leaders were
committed to expanding inter-Korean cooperation. In another
irony, the current Lee Myung-bak administration
has simultaneously pushed a much harder line on North
Korea and reduced the level of spending projected by the
previous Roh Moo-hyun government.
[ROK military] [Military balance] [Military industrial complex]
-
S. Korea compares N. Korean torpedo with metal pieces collected from sunken ship
By Chang Jae-soon
SEOUL, May 13 (Yonhap) -- Investigators are testing metal pieces collected from the site where a South Korean naval ship sank and comparing them with a North Korean torpedo to see if they are made of the same material, an official said Thursday.
South Korea has been struggling to find concrete evidence of what caused the 1,200-ton Cheonan patrol ship to sink in waters near North Korea on March 26, killing 46 sailors, amid suspicions the communist neighbor attacked the vessel in retaliation after losing a naval skirmish to the rival South in November.
Data picture
Minute traces of an explosive chemical used in making torpedoes and five tiny aluminum pieces are the only evidence that the country has gathered so far, but they are not yet considered definitive proof indicating the cause.
On Thursday, defense ministry spokesman Won Tae-jae said experts are comparing the metal pieces with a stray North Korean torpedo that South Korea picked up from the southern coast seven years ago.
"It's a matter of course for us to compare the samples" with the torpedo, Won told reporters. "But we've reached no conclusion on this."
A team of South Korean and international experts have been conducting an investigation into the disaster, as Seoul seeks to ensure the probe is objective and transparent. Its results are expected to come out next week, probably before May 20, Won said.
The team includes three people recommended by the ruling party and two other opposition parties.
Won said the ministry asked parliament to replace one opposition-designated member, Shin Sang-chul, accusing him of spreading groundless rumors without participating in the probe. Shin, who operates a Web site carrying columns and commentaries on political issues, has claimed that the ship ran aground and sank.
Shin "hurt the image of the joint investigation team by putting forward his personal opinions" before an official conclusion is made, Won said. "He has not been acting as an investigator after attending only one meeting."
Shin was not immediately available for comment.
[Cheonan] [Evidence]
-
UAE Asks To Buy S. Korean Airburst Rifle
By JUNG SUNG-KI
Published: 12 May 2010 11:00
SEOUL - South Korea has won a purchase order from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for the K11 airburst rifle, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) said May 12.
The order was made during the Special Operations Forces Exhibition Conference (SOFEX) 2010 being held May 10-13 at the King Abdullah I Airbase in Marka, Jordan, DAPA said in a news release.
"Once a final contract is signed, it will be the first export sale of the K11, possibly making it one of the country's major export items together with the T-50 supersonic trainer jet and K2 Black Panther main battle tank," the release said.
A final contract is expected to be made in one or two months, the agency added. A DAPA official said the UAE wants to buy about 40 units initially for pilot runs.
The K11, developed by the Agency for Defense Development (ADD) and S&T Daewoo, can fire standard 5.56mm NATO-compatible ammunition and a 20mm airburst round, selected by a single trigger.
The weapon has been operational with South Korea's Army since late last year. It consists of a semiautomatic 20mm smart grenade launcher, an underslung assault carbine firing a 5.56mm NATO round, a top-mounted computer-assisted sighting system with integrated laser rangefinder, and thermal infrared night vision capabilities, according to ADD officials.
Under a self-detonation system, the 20mm round from the rifle can trace its target and explode three to four meters above it, and is also capable of penetrating walls of buildings, they said.
The weapon has an effective range of 460 to 500 meters. The per-unit price is about 16 million won ($14,000).
[Military balance] [Arms sales]
-
Debris from Cheonan Site Compared with N.Korean Torpedo
Investigators are comparing several aluminum alloy fragments recovered from the wreck of the Navy corvette Cheonan with a North Korean torpedo sample, Defense Ministry spokesman Won Tae-jae said Thursday. The corvette sank in an unexplained explosion in the West Sea on March 26.
The North Korean torpedo is a light training weapon retrieved on the South Korean coast a ways off from the Northern Limit Line, the de facto maritime border in the West Sea, seven years ago.
Since training torpedoes are identical to real ones except for the warhead, they can be easily used for comparison. Analysis is underway at the National Institute of Scientific Investigation.
[Cheonan] [Evidence]
-
Air Force Receives 50th T-50 Trainer Jet
The Korean Air Force's 50th T-50 Golden Eagle trainer jet successfully touched down on a runway at a base in Gwangju. The landing marks the completed delivery of the final unit of the nation's first indigenous supersonic aircraft.
A ceremony to mark the occasion was held at a base in South Jeolla Province with about 150 military and non-military officials in attendance.
The advanced trainer and light attack jet was developed by Korean Aerospace Industries and first delivered in 2005. Its development significantly upgraded Korea's aerospace technology, with only a handful of nations training pilots in indigenous aircraft.
[Military balance]
-
What Seoul should do despite the Cheonan
Selig S.Harrison
I don't know whether North Korea torpedoed the Cheonan, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it did. Lee Myung Bak has invited retaliation by repudiating the commitment to coexistence and eventual confederation enshrined in the two summit declarations negotiated with Kim Dae Jang and Roh Moo Hyun.
This is not meant as an excuse for the North if it is proved guilty. But military reprisals by the South would only make matters worse. As I reported after my January, 2009, visit to Pyongyang, Lee's repudiation of the two summits has revived the deep seated fears in the North that South Korea is once again seeking the collapse of the North and its absorption by the South.
[Cheonan] [SK NK policy] [ROK military] [Military industrial complex] [China NK]
-
N. Korean naval boats violate western sea border
?, ??? ??? ? NLL??…???
May 16, 2010
Two North Korean patrol boats crossed into South Korean waters in separate incidences on Saturday night but retreated after the South Korean Navy fired warning shots, Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JSC) said Sunday.
According to JSC officials, a North Korean naval boat crossed the Northern Limit Line (NLL) in the Yellow Sea at 10:13 p.m. Saturday and came about 2.2 kilometers into South Korean waters. The North Korean boat sailed back to the North 30 minutes later after receiving a warning communication from the South Korean Navy, they said.
[Cheonan]
-
Cheonan probe result out Thursday
May 15, 2010
The Ministry of Defense will announce the outcome of the investigation into the sinking of the Cheonan warship next Thursday, and President Lee Myung-bak will outline on television his follow-up moves, a senior government official said yesterday.
A team of civilian and military experts, including international specialists, has been looking into the March 26 sinking of the warship in the waters near the inter-Korean border. “After the probe outcome is announced Thursday, President Lee will address the nation later this month,” the official said.
[Cheonan]
-
Gen. Park Chung-hee’s May 16 coup and rise of military regime
05-16-2010 15:55
By Michael Breen
Korea Times columnist
At 5 a.m. on the morning of May 16, 1961, a guard who was supposed to be on duty fell asleep in his hut on the northern end of the Han River Bridge and did not notice a convey of tanks crossing from the south.
Soldiers loyal to Gen. Park Chung-hee were making their move at the start of the military coup which would forever change Korean history.
Awakened rudely by mutineers, the guard paused and made an instant assessment of his predicament.
"Inmin-guk Mansei! (Long live the (North) Korean People's Army!)" he shouted, thrusting his arms into the air in welcome.
This story circulated widely at the time and no one quite knew if it had actually happened or whether it was a joke.
[Park Chung-hee]
-
Debris from Cheonan Site Compared with N.Korean Torpedo
Investigators are comparing several aluminum alloy fragments recovered from the wreck of the Navy corvette Cheonan with a North Korean torpedo sample, Defense Ministry spokesman Won Tae-jae said Thursday. The corvette sank in an unexplained explosion in the West Sea on March 26.
The North Korean torpedo is a light training weapon retrieved on the South Korean coast a ways off from the Northern Limit Line, the de facto maritime border in the West Sea, seven years ago.
Since training torpedoes are identical to real ones except for the warhead, they can be easily used for comparison. Analysis is underway at the National Institute of Scientific Investigation.
A senior government official urged caution, saying, "The probe is still underway. We're checking out various possibilities. Would North Korea have fired a torpedo made with material that could be identified so easily?"
Experts speculate that the training torpedo was discovered when a North Korean submarine penetrated deep into South Korean waters to conduct a clandestine exercise here.
But a military source dismissed this. "It goes against common sense. It would be very risky for any submarine to fire even a training torpedo in the rear of the enemy because that would risk revealing military secrets if retrieved by the enemy. It seems the torpedo was fired in the North Korean waters and washed away with the tidal currents."
Earlier, officials said investigators discovered traces of an explosive used in torpedoes and retrieved fragments of an aluminum-magnesium alloy typically used to make the casing in the wreckage of the Cheonan.
The team is in the final stage of investigation and hopes to announce its findings no later than May 20.
englishnews@chosun.com / May 14, 2010 07:59 KST
[Cheonan] [Evidence]
-
Lee Calls for Re-examination of 'Threat from Outside'
President Lee Myung-bak on Thursday called on the military to fundamentally re-examine "the threat from outside." Lee was chairing the first meeting of a newly created security reform panel.
"First, revise the 2020 Defense Reform program in a realistic manner," Lee said. The reform program was formulated by the Roh Moo-hyun administration on the assumption that the threat from North Korea will diminish as relations between the two Koreas improve. Participants said the remark apparently referred to the need for a reassessment after the sinking of the Navy corvette Cheonan, in which North Korea is increasingly suspected of having had a hand.
Lee strongly criticized military red tape. "The generals and admirals should free themselves from bureaucracy," he said. "A firm spiritual armament of military commanders is needed."
He also slammed the failure of cooperation between different branches of the armed forces. "I think the problem lies in cooperation among the Army, Navy and Air Force," he said. He also called for "fairer personnel administration" -- a reference to cronyism in the military -- and "synergy effects from mutual cooperation."
[ROK military] [Threat] [SK NK policy]
-
S. Korean Army to Stage Large-Scale Mobile Drills
Pyongyang, May 12 (KCNA) -- Ssangyong unit of the puppet army announced that it would stage large-scale mobile drills in the area of Hwachon, south Korean Kangwon Province on May 13, 14 and 19, according to Yonhap News of south Korea.
The puppet warmongers are contemplating mobilizing huge troops, tanks and armored cars and other arms and equipment for these drills.
They are getting frantic with maneuvers for a war of aggression against the DPRK while more feverishly inciting confrontation with compatriots than ever before to aggravate the situation on the Korean Peninsula.
[Military exercises] [Takeover]
-
NIS must publically clarify allegations of secretly following UN Special Rapporteur
It came to light a few days ago that UN Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Opinion and Expression Frank La Rue, who is visiting South Korea to investigate violations of freedom of expression, complained to the Foreign Ministry that he thought he was being followed. La Rue reportedly mentioned his suspicions during a May 6 meeting with Deputy Foreign Minister Chun Young-woo, presenting as evidence a photograph of a car with someone inside filming his activities with a camcorder.?
In connection with this, the Internet media site Minjung-ui Sori (Voice of the People) reported two days ago that it had confirmed through a National Intelligence Service (NIS) official that the car at the scene was an NIS vehicle. The site stated that some were now alleging NIS monitoring of La Rue. The NIS, however, denied that the vehicle in question is affiliated with the service, and police also said that the incident had nothing to do with them.?
[Human rights] [Surveillance]
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Seoul Prepares Sanctions Over Cheonan Sinking
The government has worked out a package of sanctions to take if North Korea is found to have been behind the sinking of the Navy corvette Cheonan on March 26. It will also be kind of counterblow to the North's seizure and freezing of South Korean property in the Mt. Kumgang resort area late last month.
A senior government official on Wednesday said the sanctions formulated at the initiative of the Unification Ministry include banning sand imports from the North which were worth some US$70 million to the North in 2008. The imports were banned after the North launched a long-range rocket in April last year but were resumed in October.
[Cheonan] [Sanctions]
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How to Deal with the Threat of N.Korea's Special Forces?
Baek Seung-joo
The threat of North Korea's special forces has recently become much more real to many people. And while that is good, a considerable portion of what has recently made headlines was published in the 2008 defense white paper. The white paper said North Korea boosted the number of special forces troops from 120,000 to 180,000 and deployed them in the frontline divisions, and reinforced special warfare capabilities by conducting night-time, mountain and street-fighting exercises.
[Military balance]
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Defense Minister Debunks Rumors About Cheonan Sinking
Defense Minister Kim Tae-young on Monday confirmed that traces of high explosive RDX used in torpedoes were found in the wreckage of the Navy corvette Cheonan. "But claims that RDX is used only in the Western world are not true," he added.
The defense minister in a press conference on Monday was keen to quell "claims based on inaccurate information about the sinking of the Cheonan," which he said "are detrimental to finding the cause of the incident."
He said investigators have also collected several aluminum fragments from the split section of the vessel and are analyzing whether they are part of the ship or not. "At this point there is a high chance that they are from a torpedo, but it is too early to say anything with certainty."
The minister said determining whether traces of explosives and small fragments come from a torpedo "is not easy. There is little information available about weapons manufactured by other countries and it must be obtained through limited channels, so all data is being shared between South Korea and the U.S."
Responding to a theory that the corvette crashed into an American warship after getting stuck in a sand bar or reef, Kim said, "It is extremely regrettable that some people are still claiming that the Cheonan collided after running aground. No contact was detected with any objects in the water at the time of the sinking, while joint South Korean and U.S. military drills were taking place 189 km west of the site."
Kim pledged the ministry will reveal the names of the investigators and explain the results of the probe to China and Russia.
englishnews@chosun.com / May 11, 2010 09:34 KST
[Cheonan] [Coverup]
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Sounding the alarm bells for a politicized distortion of the Cheonan disaster
Park Chang-sik, Editorial Writer
On April 25, a Ministry of National Defense joint investigation team announced that the Cheonan split in half due to the bubble jet effect resulting from a non-contact underwater explosion. It was a very dubious statement in and of itself, and left open a variety of possibilities for interpretation. The crux of the suspicions was the fact that although the gas resulting from the underwater explosion would have broken the hull while traveling with tremendous speed and power, no water column was witnessed. Many people questioned how only the hull could have gently split in half vertically without so much as a drop of water spattering, but the investigation team offered no response.
The date, May 20, is just over ten days ahead of the June 2 local elections. It is clear enough that the investigation team’s second announcement will function as the fuse for last-minute public opinion stirring for the election. And once the elections are over, the Cheonan will disappear from the stage as an eternally unsolved mystery. It will have served its purpose.
At this point, one should recall the Gulf of Tonkin Incident.
[Cheonan] [Coverup] [Manipulation] [Threat]
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S.Korea to Resume Psychological Warfare Against North
The South Korean military has started preparing to resume psychological warfare against North Korea if it is found that the North had a hand in the sinking of the Navy corvette Cheonan on March 26. The campaign, which consisted chiefly of loudspeaker broadcasts across the demilitarized zone, was suspended in June 2004 under an agreement in inter-Korean military talks.
[Softwar]
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Cheonan sunk by German-made torpedo
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6460FC20100507
Probe concludes torpedo sank South Korea ship: report
Thu May 6, 2010 10:19pm EDT
(Reuters) - Investigators probing the deadly sinking of a South Korean navy ship in March near the North have concluded that a torpedo was the source of an explosion that destroyed the vessel, a news report said on Friday.
The team of South Korean and foreign investigators found traces of explosives used in torpedoes on several parts of the sunken ship as well as pieces of composite metal used in such weapons, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said quoting a senior government official.
South Korean officials have not officially accused the North but made little secret of their belief Pyongyang deliberately torpedoed the 1,200-tonne corvette Cheonan in March near their disputed border in retaliation of a naval firefight last year.
The metallic debris and chemical residue appear to be consistent with a type of torpedo made in Germany, indicating the North may have been trying to disguise its involvement by avoiding arms made by allies China and Russia, Yonhap quoted the official as saying.
North Korea has denied involvement and accused South Korean President Lee Myung-bak's government of trying to use the incident for political gains ahead of local elections in June.
(Reporting by Jack Kim; editing by Jon Herskovitz and Sanjeev Miglani)
----------------
Now who has German-made torpedoes? And German-made subs to launch them, and access to NATO real-time naval situation reporting nets that would allow them to elude ships in a large exercise, and target a particular ship?
Who would be interested in major international distractions about now, and wouldn't mind seeing a bunch of 'other' countries fight each other?
That would be Israel.
Which is funny, because earlier on I said not even Israel would be nuts enough to do this. Maybe they were after all.
[Cheonan] [Coverup]
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Probe concludes torpedo sank South Korea ship: report
SEOUL
Thu May 6, 2010 10:19pm EDTRelated NewsKim committed to denuclearisation: report
Thu, May 6 2010SEOUL (Reuters) - Investigators probing the deadly sinking of a South Korean navy ship in March near the North have concluded that a torpedo was the source of an explosion that destroyed the vessel, a news report said on Friday.
World
The team of South Korean and foreign investigators found traces of explosives used in torpedoes on several parts of the sunken ship as well as pieces of composite metal used in such weapons, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said quoting a senior government official.
South Korean officials have not officially accused the North but made little secret of their belief Pyongyang deliberately torpedoed the 1,200-tonne corvette Cheonan in March near their disputed border in retaliation of a naval firefight last year.
The metallic debris and chemical residue appear to be consistent with a type of torpedo made in Germany, indicating the North may have been trying to disguise its involvement by avoiding arms made by allies China and Russia, Yonhap quoted the official as saying.
North Korea has denied involvement and accused South Korean President Lee Myung-bak's government of trying to use the incident for political gains ahead of local elections in June.
(Reporting by Jack Kim; editing by Jon Herskovitz and Sanjeev Miglani)
[Cheonan]
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Torpedo explosive detected in sunken ship: official
SEOUL, May 7 (Yonhap) -- An explosive substance, traces of which were found in the wreckage of a sunken South Korean naval ship, has been identified as a powerful bomb ingredient used in making torpedoes, a government official said Friday.
The latest finding is expected to further back suspicions that a torpedo attack caused the explosion of the 1,200-ton patrol ship Cheonan near the tense Yellow Sea border with North Korea on March 26. The Cheonan broke in two and sank, killing 46 sailors.
Data picture
"Explosive traces found in the Cheonan's chimney and the seabed on which the stern's broken-off side had been lying were all confirmed as those of the high explosive RDX, which is more powerful than TNT," the official said on condition of anonymity. "This explosive is used in torpedoes, not sea mines."
RDX, which stands for research department explosive, is a white crystalline solid and is considered the most powerful high explosive and a main ingredient in plastic explosives.
Four metal fragments have also been found in the wreckage, which was salvaged last month, and an analysis has showed that they were an alloy of aluminum and magnesium used in torpedo casings, the official said.
Investigators are also looking into the possibility that a German-made torpedo might have been used, potentially a move by North Korea to disguise the attack, as South Korea uses German torpedoes.
[Cheonan] [Coverup] [Evidence]
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Explosives from torpedo found on sunken ship
By Lee Tae-hoon
Staff reporter
Experts probing the cause of the sinking of a warship that took the lives of 46 South Korean sailors in late March have concluded that a torpedo was responsible for the naval tragedy, a government source said Friday.
It said a team of civilian and military specialists confirmed that a chemical substance used in making torpedoes has been identified from residue found on the funnel, the stern, as well as the seabed, where the broken half of the ship rested.
"Each of the chemical elements of the explosives traces was confirmed as those of the RDX, a more powerful explosive than TNT," he said
"They came to the conclusion because the RDX is used for torpedoes, not sea mines."
RDX stands for research department explosive. It is a highly explosive compound, commonly used as a main ingredient in plastic explosives.
About four alloy fragments have also been found in the salvaged wreckage and an analysis has suggested that they were made of an aluminum-magnesium alloy used to produce a torpedo's casing, the official said.
The government is expected to make public its findings around May 20 as an investigation is underway to determine the manufacturer of the torpedo and who fired it.
The multinational investigation team is also closely looking into the possibility that a North Korean submarine fired a German-made torpedo used both by South Korean and American navies in an attempt to dodge its responsibility.
[Cheonan] [Evidence] [Coverup]
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Military Under Fire
Questions Grow Over Crisis Management Capability
It is hard to know exactly what happened to the Navy frigate that sank after a mysterious explosion near the West Sea border with North Korea on March 26. The only known thing is that the 1,200-ton ship split in half and submerged after the powerful blast with 46 of the 104 sailors aboard the ill-fated vessel still unaccounted for. Delayed search and rescue operations due to bad weather and rapid currents are only ebbing away the hope for the survival of the missing sailors.
[Cheonan] [ROK military]
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Cheonan Evidence 'Points to N.Korean Spy Agency'
Circumstantial evidence shows that North Korea's Reconnaissance Bureau, the agency in charge of espionage operations against the South, masterminded the sinking of the South Korean Navy corvette Cheonan on March 26, government sources claimed Thursday.
The findings of a civilian-military investigation into the shipwreck will not be announced until May 20. But a government source on Thursday said, "South Korean and U.S. intelligence agencies have tried to gather circumstantial evidence by tracing back various kinds of information and intelligence about the possibility of North Korea's involvement. They've so far obtained about three decisive pieces of circumstantial evidence."
[Cheonan] [Media] [Evidence]
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Torpedo Gunpowder Found in Cheonan Wreckage
Traces of gunpowder found in the wreckage of the Navy corvette Cheonan, which sank in an explosion in the West Sea on March 26, came from a torpedo, a government official said Friday.
"Explosive traces found in the Cheonan's chimney and the seabed on which the stern's broken-off side had been lying were all confirmed as those of the high explosive RDX, which is more powerful than TNT," the official told the Yonhap news agency. "This explosive is used in torpedoes, not sea mines." The tiny amount of gunpowder ingredient was detected in the Cheonan's funnel.
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N.Korea Upset at Becoming South's 'Main Enemy' Again
North Korea on Thursday accused the South of trying to drum up public support for war, taking issue with the revival of the term "main enemy" when referring to the North.
"The South Korean conservative regime's attempt to include in its defense white paper the concept of the North being the main enemy is designed to put a war against our republic in writing," the Minju Choson, the organ of the North Korean Cabinet, said Thursday. "This is an intolerable act of treason, arousing the indignation of our armed forces and people."
It warned if the South "provokes a war, it will taste the power of the war deterrent that our military and people have been strengthening. It will have no time for regret. This is not empty talk."
The official North Korean Web site Uriminzokkiri on Wednesday called moves to restore the term "main enemy" in the defense white paper, which was struck during the Roh Moo-hyun administration, "the most wicked theory of confrontation and war," and added, "If the conservative faction takes the path of all-out confrontation and war, it will not escape ignoble destruction."
[SK NK policy]
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We Need a Bush
By Oh Young-jin
Assistant Managing Editor
When I was five or six years old, I had a fire-engine red, one-seat coupe with 007 written in white on its sides. I often peddled around in it, checking out my neighborhood.
Once I encountered a group of thugs in their early 20s. They kicked my Aston Martin and I, being left helplessly to my own devices, cried out for my superman. My father, then in his late 40s, appeared and stood up to them. They turned one by one and ran away.
Many years later before he died, I brought up that incident and asked how he could be so brave.
He said, ``Losing can be a habit. I wanted to teach you how to stand up for yourself.''
Right after the multiple terror attacks on the United States, which are now known as ``9/11,'' the then-President Bush appeared before the American people and made a teary but determined pledge to chase the perpetrators to the last man and bring them to justice.
[Cheonan] [Bizarre]
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N.Korea Moves 50,000 Special Forces to Frontline
The North Korean Army has newly moved about 50,000 elite special troops to the frontline near the demilitarized zone.
A South Korean government source on Wednesday said, South Korean and U.S. intelligence believe that the North Korean Army completed the move of seven light infantry divisions, which are special warfare units, to the frontline.
The deployment took place gradually over two or three years.(sic)
Each light infantry division consists of about 7,000 troops, out of a total of 180,000. That means some 27 percent of all special forces are deployed at the frontline.
[Media]
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Kim Jong-il Called for Stronger Navy After Defeat in Skirmish
Top, officer Kim Kwang-il of a naval unit identified only by the number 587 speaks in a documentary by [North] Korean Central TV marking the 78th anniversary of the People's Army on April 25.; bottom, Kim Jong-il inspects the unit in November 2009. /[North] Korean Central TV-Yonhap North Korean leader Kim Jong-il visited a naval base in Nampo immediately after his country lost a skirmish near Daecheong Island on Nov. 10, 2009, and called for "modernization of warfare strategy and equipment" to "regain strength at sea." The remarks sound ominous in view of the unexplained sinking of the South Korean Navy corvette Cheonan on March 26 this year.
[Cheonan] [Media]
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Roh Moo-hyun autobiography leaps to number one on bestseller list
Publishing officials predict that sales will continue to climb until the one-year anniversary of his death
» The Roh Moo-hyun Foundation holds a special exhibition displaying objects used by the late President Roh including as a bicycle and straw hat to commemorate the first anniversary of his death at Gallery Luminary in Seoul’s Seocho neighborhood, May 5.
A “Roh Moo-hyun Gust” is blowing through the publishing world.
As the one-year anniversary of the former president’s death approaches, Roh’s autobiography “It’s Fate (Dolbegae)” has become a bestseller, recording an estimated 50 thousand copies sold over about 10 days since its launch.
[Roh Moo-Hyun]
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Divergent diplomatic strategies leave six-party talks in limbo
While other countries are pushing for resuming talks, analysts say S.Korea is risking diplomatic isolation in its strategy prioritizing the Cheonan
The sinking of the Cheonan on March 26 and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il’s visit to China on Monday have come together such that the political situation on the Korean Peninsula continues to unfold in a complex way. At the heart of the complexities are the Cheonan’s sinking and the establishment of relationships in the six-party talks, but the related authorities have shown subtle differences in their positions.
[Cheonan] [Six Party Talks]
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North denies assassination attempt
May 06, 2010
North Korea denied yesterday that it sent spies to kill a high-profile defector and vocal critic of its leader, Kim Jong-il, and accused South Korea of fabricating the case to stoke hostilities against Pyongyang.
The denial, carried by Uriminzokkiri, North Korea’s official Web site, came after prosecutors here said last month they arrested two North Korean officers who had entered South Korea on a mission to kill Hwang Jang-yop while posing as defectors.
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Military Promises More Effective Defense Strategy
South Korea's military strategy against North Korea will shift from thwarting a full-scale, conventional attack to dealing with limited, unconventional acts of aggression, Defense Minister Kim Tae-young told President Lee Myung-bak on Tuesday. "We admit that there are deficiencies in our ability to deal with infiltrations and unconventional tactics and we need to refocus the direction of our military build-up strategy," Kim said in a meeting between Lee and top military commanders.
[Cheonan] [Military balance]
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The Cheonan disaster’s shadow on inter-Korean relations
Kim Ji-seok, Chief Editorial Writer
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has traveled to China. He appears likely to follow his own path, but some who believe North Korea is responsible for the sinking of the Cheonan are liable to think that he will be relying on China to avoid responsibility. Whatever the case, there is scant chance of the Cheonan being the main item on the agenda of a North Korea-China summit. More pressing issues exist between the two countries, namely resuming six-party talks and stronger political and economic cooperation. If they reach a compromise between their demands, the effects will come to reach South Korea some time down the road.
;NLL]
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Handling of Cheonan a touchstone of Lee’s leadership
2010-05-05 17:00
Voiceware Text Woori sale plan to be unveiled next month Kim, Hu likely to hold summit Thursday in Beijing [Photo News] Children’s Day First Islamic investment fund approved Smartphones transform offices Music touches hearts of Sorok residents Korean companies heat up World Cup frenzy [Photo News] Daewoo construction family walk [Photo News] LG Electronics Cafe Phone Kia K5 gives Hyundai Sonata run for its money
Almost six weeks have passed since the nation’s worst naval disaster in decades took the lives of 46 young sailors near the disputed inter-Korean sea border.
President Lee Myung-bak attends a meeting on preparations for the G20 summit in Seoul on Tuesday. Lee Gil-dong/The Korea Herald
The need to make wise decisions regarding the verification of who is to blame for the Cheonan’s sinking and what countermeasures to take puts President Lee Myung-bak at a critical juncture nearly halfway into his five-year term.
Investigators including international experts are yet to announce what caused the “underwater explosion near the port side of the ship” after an analysis of “aluminum fragments (found at the site of sinking) that do not appear to be part of the Cheonan.”
About 70 percent of the investigators on the joint probe team are South Korean military officials.
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State Watchdog Examines Response to Cheonan Sinking
The Board of Audit and Inspection on Monday began auditing the Defense Ministry, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Navy authorities over their response to the sinking of the Navy corvette Cheonan in an unexplained explosion on March 26.
Twenty-nine inspectors specializing in defense affairs will carry out the audit, which is conducted at Defense Minister Kim Tae-young's request, until May 19.
A spokesman for the state watchdog said the audit aims to "identify problems in the response to the crisis caused by the sinking of the Cheonan on March 26. We're going to find out whether military authorities' initial response was insufficient and who was responsible."
[Cheonan]
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Accountability for the Cheong Wa Dae in assessing the Cheonan response
The Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) is launching a performance inspection today in connection with the response to the sinking of the Cheonan, setting as target institutions for inspection the Ministry of National Defense, Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Naval Operation Command and related units. This is the result of an effort to address concerns about the efficiency and regular operations of the military command reporting system during the response, the circumstances surrounding the delay in rescue efforts, and allegations about the concealment of important data to those aspects of performance subject to a BAI inspection. However, such a method is unlikely to bring to light the essential problem areas with the Cheonan incident. This is because it leaves out entirely the issue of the responsibility of President Lee Myung-bak and the Cheong Wa Dae (the presidential office in South Korea or Blue House), who performed the function of overall mediation from the earliest stages of the incident.
[Cheonan]
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The nightmare this time around
What if the torpedo carried no identifying marks, or the attacker used a weapon from another country?
April 21, 2010
We now await the dreaded rude awakening to the reality in which we live. What sank a naval ship with young sailors returning from a routine patrol near the disputed sea border with North Korea one evening is likely to be a reality the government and military authorities wanted to avoid most fervently. Although the probe is still proceeding, the joint civilian, military and foreign investigation team has tentatively reached a conclusion that a so-called bubble jet, created by a blast of a torpedo detonated from a near distance, ruptured and sank the ship.
Submarines cruising the waters near the Korean Peninsula can belong to Japan, China, the United States or Russia. But they undoubtedly would notify the country’s computerized naval command, Korea Naval Tactical Data System, and moreover have no reasons to attack a South Korean naval ship. What would they gain by provoking South Korea, which has a relationship with every one of the four powers?
That leaves us with one suspect: North Korea.
But what we fear more is that the provocation this time is aggravating enough to lead to war.
[Cheonan] [Evidence]
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Cheonan Investigators Pore Over Debris Find
Investigators are examining four aluminum fragments and a piece of plastic found on the seabed near the site where the Navy corvette Cheonan sank in an unexplained explosion on March 26. The fragments do not appear to come from the ship itself.
In a session of the National Assembly's Defense Committee on Friday, Defense Minister Kim Tae-young said, "We've collected four metal fragments, aluminum more precisely, from the scene of sinking. They seem a little different from … our hull materials."
[Cheonan]
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Defense Minister Vows Retaliation for Cheonan
Sinking Defense Minister Kim Tae-yung on Sunday threatened North Korea with retaliation if it is found to have been behind the sinking of the Navy corvette Cheonan on March 26. "Retaliation -- whatever form it takes -- must be done," Kim said on KBS TV. The possibility of a vicious cycle of retaliation "must clearly be considered,” he said.
The minister was echoing Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Kim Sung-chan's pledge during Thursday's funeral for the 46 sailors killed in the shipwreck that whoever caused the tragedy would not be forgiven and get away.
"We must investigate the exact cause of the shipwreck to the last. And I think those responsible for killing our soldiers must pay the price," Kim said.
Former U.S. Forces Korea commander Burwell Bell, meanwhile, called for strict blockade measures if North Korean involvement in the sinking of the Cheonan is proved.
Government and military sources say that retaliation could take the form of a show of strength but not necessarily actual military force. If it does take the form of military force, this could mean the precision bombing of one of the submarines or mini-subs presumed to have attacked the Cheonan with a torpedo, or of their base.
[Cheonan]
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Late Roh, fallen sailors to swing polls
Election officials check voting papers for the local elections, which are one month away, at the National Election Commission’s office in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, Sunday. Some 4,000 positions for governors, mayors, regional education superintendents and provincial and city councilors will be contested in the June 2 race. / Korea Times
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter
Campaign watchers point to two voter groups ? supporters of the late President Roh Moo-hyun, and those concerned with national security ? as campaign factors in the local elections slated for June 2.
Depending on which voters turn out more on the day, winners of three particular battle grounds ? Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi Province ? will be determined.
The sunken naval vessel Chonan, which took the lives of 46 sailors, alarmed the nation as the multi-national investigation team said that an external blast was the most likely cause of the maritime disaster.
The possible role of North Korea in the tragedy has raised concerns with ``security voters.
[Cheonan] [Roh Moo-hyun]
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Duty and responding to the Cheonan disaster
It is now a crucial time for bringing to light the cause of the Cheonan disaster and the problems with response readiness, and for putting measures in place so that this kind of tragedy does not happen again. Doing so will require, more than anything else, the maintenance of objectivity and a cool-headed stance. But there has been a worrisome string of attempts from one corner of the military to use early conjectures to send the situation in one particular direction.?
During the funeral ceremony two days ago for the victims of the Cheonan disaster, Navy Chief of Staff Kim Sung-chan said, “We will not sit idly by when forces bring great pain to our people, no matter who those forces are.” He also said, “We will not rest until we find those responsible and make them pay a greater price.” He did not specify any particular party, but his wording smacked strongly of a vow of retaliation targeting North Korea. However, at present we still have yet to clearly determined the cause of the sinking. Sufficient grounds have not been presented for the possibility of a “non-contact underwater explosion” presented by the joint civilian-military fact-finding team either. Under these circumstances, it is difficult to fathom who is supposed to be made to pay the price and how.?
[Cheonan] [ROK military]
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Scientists Say Direct Heavy Torpedo Sank Cheonan
A team of scientists believes that the Navy corvette Cheonan sank after being hit by a heavy 206 kg torpedo that ran at a speed of 65 km/h.
The team concluded that the ship was probably hit by a Chinese-made 206 kg-class Yu-3 heavy torpedo.
[Cheonan] [Evidence]
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Experts urge Lee administration to adopt peace-making measures
The experts say the current administration has not adhered to October 4 2007 Summit Declaration agreements with N.Korea to ensure peace in the West Sea
The forty-six sailors from the Cheonan were laid to rest Thursday during a full Navy funeral ceremony. Now a heavier burden lies on the shoulders of those who remain. Experts are unanimous in saying that if the loss of the Cheonan sailors is not to have been in vain, energies must immediately be focused not only on “keeping peace,” but also on “making peace,” something that has thus far been neglected.
In making peace, experts pointed to the urgent need for a systematic plan aimed at establishing peace in the West Sea region, as well the stable management of inter-Korean relations.
[Cheonan] [SK NK policy] [Peace efforts]
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Military expands book blacklist
List of 23 books designated as ‘seditious’ now includes best-sellers and books by academics
It was discovered that the Ministry of National Defense has labeled books about culture and best-sellers as “seditious publications” and taken them off the shelves. Military authorities instructed the army to block distribution of dangerous documents by requiring that all mail be opened in the presence of a military officer.
the instructions, the Air Force states that “seditious books” can hinder soldiers’ concentration and suggested a list of 23 books to be banned in three categories: pro-Pyongyang, anti-government and anti-U.S., and anti-capitalism.
[Human rights][Tribute] [Client]
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Controversy revived over ‘main enemy’ concept
2010-04-29 17:28
With North Korea being cited as the possible culprit for the March 26 sinking of the Navy corvette Cheonan, controversy has resurfaced over whether to revive the official description of the North as the South’s “main enemy” in its defense policy paper.
Some have argued that military discipline has grown lax as there has not been any particular subject set for the military to fight against. However, others have voiced concern that reviving the term would only cause inter-Korean ties to deteriorate.
[SK NK Policy] [Lee Myung-bak] [Cheonan]
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Torpedo Attack 'Could Be Proved from State of Wreck Alone
'Government officials say the wrecked hull of the Navy corvette Cheonan could in itself provide powerful evidence what kind of external explosion sank the ship on March 26, even if no shrapnel from a torpedo or mine is found. "We'd better not jump to any conclusion until the final outcome of the investigation, but the salvaged hull itself can constitute evidence," Foreign Ministry spokesman Kim Young-sun said Thursday.
A senior government official asked, "Is there decisive evidence other than the salvaged hull? It's important to find shrapnel of an explosive device, but that would be nothing but corroborating evidence."
The official added, "Even if we find shrapnel, North Korea will deny that it was from its weaponry. So if we conduct a precision analysis of the hull and determine that it was hit by a torpedo, we'll have secured more than 90 percent of the evidence."
So far the government has been saying that any North Korean involvement in the sinking can only be determined if fragments of an explosive device are found -- a position that would certainly help bolster international confidence in the investigation. But some experts say that has also limited the government's scope in investigating the cause.
Kim Hee-sang, the president of the Korea Institute for National Security Affairs, said, "North Korea is the only country that could launch a torpedo attack on the South in the West Sea. It's essential to analyze the hull and determine whether the ship was hit by a torpedo."
[Cheonan] [Evidence]
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