 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.
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, announced a North Korean midget submarine torpedoed the Cheonan at night.
The sub was believed to have sneaked through international waters into the West Sea two or three days before the attack, according to the group.
It said the torpedo, with an explosive weight of about 250 kilograms, exploded 3 meters under the gas turbine area of the 1,200-ton ship.
The group provided what it called decisive evidence to prove North Korea's involvement in the tragedy that claimed the lives of 46 sailors.
It displayed parts of the propulsion system of the torpedo collected from the site of the sinking and said the remains matched in size and shape the specifications on a blueprint of a North Korean torpedo.
The blueprint was included in brochures of torpedoes provided to foreign countries for exports, it said.
Investigators also found markings in hangeul, which read "No. 1" in English, on the parts. They said the font was similar to that on a North Korean torpedo discovered by the South seven years ago.
"The Cheonan was split apart and went down due to a shockwave and bubble effect produced by an underwater torpedo explosion," said Yoon Duk-yong, a professor emeritus at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology.
"Based on all such relevant facts and classified analysis, we have reached the clear conclusion that the Cheonan sank on March 26 as the result of an external underwater explosion caused by a torpedo made in North Korea," said Yoon who co-heads the JIG.
"The evidence points overwhelmingly to the conclusion that the torpedo was fired by a North Korean submarine. There is no other plausible explanation."
Yoon also cited statements of eyewitnesses, post mortems on the deceased sailors, analysis of seismic and ultrasound waves, a simulation of an underwater explosion, and analysis of currents off Baengnyeong Island near the sea border with the North.
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.
정부 북한어뢰 초계함 침몰확인
규명조사단은 목요일 북한잠수정이 지난 3월 26일 중어뢰로 천안함을 공격했다고 밝혔다.
북한은 즉각적으로 조사단이 날조했다며 남측 주장을 반박하고 조사단을 서울로 파견해 조사 진위를 밝힐 것을 요청했다.
유명환 외교통상부장관은 북한이 한국전 휴전협정을 위반했다며 비난했다.
유 장관은 국제사회의 도움을 받아 이번 사건에 강력 대응하겠다고 다짐했다.
미국, 영국, 호주, 스웨덴 전문가 24명을 포함한 민군합동조사단은 북한 소형잠수정이 야간에 천안함을 어뢰로 공격했다고 밝혔다.
조사단은 또한 북한 잠수정은 공격 2~3일 전에 공해상을 통해 서해로 몰래 잠입했던 것으로 보인다고 전했다.
조사단에 의하면 250 kg 어뢰가 무게 1,200 톤인 천안함 가스터빈 3 미터 아래에서 폭발했다고 말했다. 조사단은 또한 수병 46명의 목숨을 앗아간 비극적인 사태에 북한의 개입을 보여주는 결정적인 증거를 제공했다. 이 증거는 어뢰 프로펠러 조각으로 크기와 모양에서 북한산 무기소개책자의 어뢰설계와 일치한다고 말했다.
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