By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
The South Korean armed forces have been on high alert a day after a Navy patrol ship sank near the western sea border with North Korea, leaving 46 sailors still missing, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said Saturday.
The 1,200-ton "Cheonan" patrol ship sank Friday evening after an unidentified explosion ripped through its rear hull, a JCS spokesman said. Rescuers have so far picked up 58 sailors, a JCS spokesman said.
There was no sign of North Korea's military in the area where the ship sank, said the spokesman.
The incident occurred 9:45 p.m. about 1.8 kilometers from South Korea's northernmost island of Baeknyeong near the Northern Limit Line (NLL).
The search was continuing for the missing sailors but hopes are fading of rescuing survivors.
Navy divers were dispatched to the scene in near-freezing waters to retrieve the bodies as well as investigate the cause of the sinking, but high waves held up their mission, JCS officials said.
Navy and coast guard vessels, as well as Air Force planes, were scouring the area near the island.
The cause of the incident has not been determined. Defense Minister Kim Tae-young said the case could be identified via deep sea exploration of the sunken ship.
"Let's wait and see what happens. None has been confirmed dead yet," Kim told reporters shortly before heading off the island.
Returning from the scene, Kim said a 3,000-ton rescue ship carrying navy divers will be dispatched to the area Sunday to conduct full-fledged rescue works.
Earlier in the day, President Lee Myung-bak reconvened an emergency meeting of security-related ministers and said all possible causes for the sinking would be investigated.
The President ordered the military to focus on rescuing the sailors first.
Military officials and experts were narrowing down the possibilities to the vessel's collision with a floating mine or sea mine and an internal explosion due to a malfunction of explosives the ship was carrying.
"At the moment, all possibilities are on the table," a Navy official told The Korea Times, asking not to be named. "Though the ship collided with a mine, it's still unclear where the mine had come from.
The mine could come from North Korea, or it could come from China or our military."
The incident comes at a time of tension between the two Koreas. International talks to end the North's nuclear ambitions have been stalled for a year and both Koreas have been engaged in a tug-of-war over the resumption of a South Korean-led tour program at Mount Geumgang in the North.
North Korea has also denounced the drills by South Korean and U.S. militaries and their alleged contingency scenarios to cope with instabilities in the communist state.
In January, North Korea fired scores of artillery shells not far from Baeknyeong.
South Korea fired 100 warning shots in response, but no injuries were reported.
The NLL, drawn up by the U.S.-led United Nations Command at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, has been a flash point for conflicts between navies from both Koreas, as Pyongyang has refused to recognize the line.