Military to Beef Up Underwater Surveillance

By Lee Tae-hoon

Staff Reporter

With the possibility of a North Korean submarine attack on the Cheonan and its subsequent sinking, the military is seeking to beef up its deterrence against potential underwater assaults, source said Sunday.

"The Navy is considering overhauling the current system of defense acquisition," the official was quoted as saying by Yonhap News Agency. "Priority will be given to purchasing sensors and other devices that can detect underwater weapons such as torpedoes and mines."

He said too much information about South Korea's naval detection devices have been revealed since the incident on March 26, making the Navy more vulnerable to attacks.

The official, however, noted that it was too early to conclude that Pyongyang was responsible for the sinking of the 1,200-ton frigate.

He noted that the military presumes an external explosion is the cause of the incident but has yet to gather sufficient evidence to confirm the North's involvement.

On April 5, the Ministry of Defense said in a statement that if it were a torpedo attack from a North Korean submarine positioned two kilometers away, the chances of the frigate's failing to anticipate it were 30 percent or less on that night.

Though none of the 58 surviving crewmembers have mentioned an outside attack, military experts point out that submarines are often hard to detect even with the latest equipment.

The military is pushing to speed up the development of its indigenous 3D radar technology, another military source said.

"The military planned to complete the 3D radar system by 2020 for detecting North Korea's underwater threats. But the deadline is expected to be pushed back to 2016," the official said.

On Saturday, the North denied involvement in the sinking of the warship that left 38 sailors dead and eight others still missing, saying such suspicions have been fabricated by Seoul.

"The military warmongers are getting more undisguised in their moves to link the accident with the North though it was caused by their own fault," a defense commentator at the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said in a statement.

It was the first time the North has officially denied involvement in the incident. The statement added that Pyongyang also considers the event a tragedy as it claimed the lives of many Koreans.