South Korean naval ship Cheonan
Posted on 03/27/2010 10:20:27 PM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld
Sea mines might have caused the tragic sinking of a South Korean naval ship, U.S. experts said Saturday, dismissing concerns over possible North Korean involvement.
"I doubt that North Korea was involved in the incident," John Feffer, co-director of the Foreign Policy in Focus program at the Institute for Policy Studies, said. "It didn't seem to involve any artillery fire from the North."
The 1,200-ton "Cheonan" sank Friday night (Seoul time) after a mysterious explosion that South Korean witnesses and military officials say split the vessel in two. Only 58 of the 104 crew aboard were rescued. The others are still missing. Both Seoul and Washington have said they have yet to find any evidence of North Korea's involvement, although South Korean officials would not completely rule out the possibility.
The boat sank near the maritime border with North Korea in the Yellow Sea, the scene of bloody naval skirmishes on a total of three occasions in 1999, 2002 and 2009.
Feffer disagreed with the assumption that North Korea attacked the South Korean naval vessel, noting this incident is different from the previous clashes that involved fishing boats of the two Koreas crossing their sea border. "There have been naval clashes between North and South in the past, but these have usually involved rising tensions, warnings, fishing boats crossing the NLL," he said. "But this was, as far as we know, a surprise. And there was no larger reason why the North might engage in such a surprise attack."
(Excerpt) Read more at english.yonhapnews.co.kr ...
*ping*
Still sounds like a torpedo to me, striking amidships.
A really powerful explosion could indicate a possibility of a sea mine, though I wonder could it be an old mine laid down during the Korean War that caused the damage.
The surviving crew members would have to tell what happened.
I agree.
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