By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
The top American commander here said Tuesday that he has yet to find any clear link between North Korea and the deadly sinking of a South Korean warship in the West Sea on March 26.
South Korea's spy chief made similar remarks. Won Se-hoon, director of the National Intelligence Service, said that it was difficult to conclude that North Korea was involved in the incident.
Won made the remarks during a closed-door session of the National Assembly Intelligence Committee late Tuesday, according to Rep. Chung Chin-sup of the governing Grand National Party.
"If the North had really been involved, navy commanders or intelligence officials could not have directed such an operation," Won was quoted as saying. "Without approval from Chairman Kim Jong-il of the National Defense Commission, no one (in the North) can undertake that kind of project."
Gen. Walter Sharp, commander of the ROK-U.S. Combined Forces Command (CFC), said that a joint investigative team involving South Korean and U.S. experts would determine the cause of the incident.
The Ministry of National Defense plans to arrange for some of the rescued sailors to meet with the families of their missing shipmates and the media today.
The remarks by Sharp and Won came amid mounting speculation here on what caused the sudden sinking.
North Korea's involvement has been referred to as a scenario, but Cheong Wa Dae has been reluctant to point the finger at Pyongyang, mindful of a potential backlash.
"We, the United States, and the Republic of Korea are forming a joint investigative team and after we get the ship up, we will have the best experts from Korea and the United States really go over and determine what was the cause of the incident," the four-star general said at a luncheon meeting in Seoul hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea. Sharp concurrently serves as commander of the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK).
"We, as Combined Forces Command and the ROK Joint Chiefs of Staff, watch North Korea very closely every single day of the year and we continue to do that right now," he said. "As this has been said, we see no unusual activity at this time.
"We want to get the right answer, the correct answer and we don't want to rush to that conclusion, to any conclusion as to what was the cause of the incident," the commander added.
A day ago, Sharp pledged that the U.S. military would provide all possible support measures to South Korea to uncover the cause of the tragedy. U.S. experts on naval weapons and explosives will also join the investigative team, he said.
Speculation has raged as to what caused the incident.
Last Friday, Defense Minister Kim Tae-young said that a torpedo from a North Korean submarine could have caused the blast, calling the torpedo option a "likely possibility."
Kim had previously said a mine could have caused the explosion.
Rep. Kim Hak-song, chairman of the National Assembly Defense Committee, said Monday that a North Korean submarine had been unaccounted for in the western waters at the time when the 1,200-ton Cheonan sank. Kim cited classified intelligence on the activity of North Korean vessels near the sea border.
"Two North Korean Shark-class submarines disappeared from our military surveillance between March 23 and 27, and the military authorities failed to find out where one of them was on March 26," the lawmaker told reporters.
Some people raised the possibilities of an onboard explosion or metal fatigue fractures on the 20-year-old ship.
Minesweepers have detected more than 10 sites of metal fragments, which could offer a tip to the cause of a blast.
Operations to hoist the sunken warship were stalled by strong wind and high waves Tuesday, military officials said. The Cheonan sank near the Northern Limit Line (NLL), the de facto sea border between the two Koreas, after an "unexplained explosion."
Fifty-eight crewmembers were rescued by coast guard vessels. One sailor was found dead Saturday, while 45 others remain "missing in action."
A military diver and two fishermen died in desperate search-and-rescue efforts in rough waves and inclement weather. The search operation was called off Sunday and efforst have now shifted to salvaging the ship.