South Korean investigator says ‘high possibility’ that external explosion sank naval ship

SKorea: External explosion probably sank navy ship

SEOUL, South Korea — An external explosion most likely caused a South Korean navy ship to split apart and sink three weeks ago, officials said Friday, leaving open the possibility that a North Korean torpedo or mine may have caused the disaster.

The 1,200-ton Cheonan broke into two pieces after exploding March 26 during a routine patrol near the tense maritime border with North Korea. Fifty-eight crew members were rescued and 38 bodies have been found, most of them Thursday when the stern was raised from the water.

There has been some suspicion but no confirmation of North Korean involvement in the sinking, which North Korea has denied. The disputed western sea border has been the scene of three past inter-Korean naval battles.

South Korean officials have said they will look into all possibilities, including a North Korean torpedo or a mine left over from the 1950-53 Korean War. The conflict ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty, leaving the Koreas still technically at war.

Defense Minister Kim Tae-young said Seoul considers the sinking “a grave national security issue.”

“Once the investigation is completed, we will make it public without leaving a dot of suspicion and work out the next step in a clear and stern manner,” he said in an address to the nation.

“There is a high possibility of an external explosion rather than an internal explosion,” chief South Korean investigator Yoon Duk-yong told reporters Friday. He said more analysis is needed to determine the exact cause after the rest of the ship’s wreckage is salvaged and the debris collected.

Yoon also said the explosion may have occurred near the ship or that something may have hit the ship.

Lee Hyun-yup, a marine engineering expert at South Korea’s Chungnam National University, said an underwater explosion, caused either by a torpedo or a floating mine, may well have destroyed the Cheonan.

To ascertain whether North Korea was involved, authorities will need to examine broken parts from the ship and recover pieces of a torpedo or a mine, and determine whether the North had such weapons, Lee said, adding that it could take years to find the exact cause.

Yang Moo-jin, a professor at Seoul’s University of North Korean Studies, doubted North Korean involvement, noting that the North is seeking cooperation with China and direct talks with the U.S.

North Korea has told its officials that South Korea fabricated the sinking to justify its anti-North Korean policy, according to a report by Open Radio for North Korea, a Seoul-based radio station, which cited an unidentified North Korean source.

The salvage of the ship began Thursday, with 36 bodies recovered. Two had been found earlier, and eight crew members are still unaccounted for, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

A team of 38 investigators, including U.S. Navy officials, conducted a preliminary investigation of the ship’s stern after lifting it out of the water. The stern was to be moved to a naval base for further examination and the remaining two-thirds of the ship is to be salvaged next week, military officials said.

The military is searching for debris within a 0.3-mile (500-meter) radius of the explosion site by using unmanned underwater equipment, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

In March, North Korea’s main Rodong Sinmun newspaper warned in a commentary that the North would retaliate against the United States and South Korea if the two countries went ahead with annual joint military drills in March. It did not elaborate.

North Korea calls the military drills a rehearsal for invasion. South Korea and the U.S. proceeded with the exercises, which they say are purely defensive.

The sinking was one of South Korea’s worst naval disasters. In 1974, a ship sank off the southeastern coast in stormy weather, killing 159 sailors and coast guard personnel. In 1967, 39 sailors were killed by North Korean artillery.