 Marines stop rescue operations and head to Baengnyeong Island, Wednesday, as stormy weather whipped up high waves in waters near the western sea border with North Korea, where 46 of 104 crew members are still missing after a South Korean warship sank following an explosion last Friday. / Korea Times Photo by Ryu Hyo-jin |
By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
Defense Minister Kim Tae-young said Wednesday work to recover the wreckage of the sunken Cheonan frigate lying on the sea bed in the West Sea will begin next week, as little progress has been made in rescue operations.
A 60-member on-site inspection team involving naval ship and weapons experts will be sent to the scene today to discover the cause of the incident, he said.
Kim said the recovery work will coincide with search and rescue operations.
"We're considering conducting both at the same time. We'll make the final and best decision soon after discussions with ship recovery experts," he told reporters at the ministry in Seoul.
The minister rejected requests to disclose radio contacts between the Cheonan, the 2nd Navy Fleet headquarters in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, and another nearby warship, saying they were confidential.
Local media have reported that the warship might have been conducting clandestine operations, such as repelling North Korean mini-submarines, at the scene, and it might have been hit by a torpedo or mine.
Asked why the 1,200-ton vessel was sailing in the unfamiliar shallow waters, Kim said the Cheonan was avoiding high waves near the Northern Limit Line (NLL), the de facto sea border between the two Koreas.
A local newspaper reported that South Korean and U.S. intelligence authorities detected North Korean submarine movements near the NLL, via satellite, days before the ship sank after an unexplained explosion.
The presidential office dismissed the report, saying North Korea's submarine activities were "usual." "We're not allowed to make public the satellite images for security reasons, but it's certain that the detected activities by North Korean submarines had nothing to do with the sinking," a Cheong Wa Dae official said.
Some people have raised the possibility that the Cheonan and its escort the frigate Sokcho were chasing a North Korean submarine, when the former struck a mine laid by the sub or was hit by a torpedo fired from it.
The Sokcho was reported to have fired hundreds of shots toward the North at unidentified objects, which the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) later said were "a flock of birds," leaving the Cheonan sinking. In a delicate turnaround from its initial position, Cheong Wa Dae is cautiously raising the possibility of North Korea's involvement in the sinking of a Navy ship in the West Sea last Friday.
"The presidential office has never said that the possibility of North Korea's involvement was low," Kim Eun-hye, a spokeswoman for President Lee Myung-bak told reporters earlier in the day. "We're open to all possibilities."
Kim's remarks came as speculations rage as to the cause of the tragedy, which has left 46 of the 104-man crew missing. Initially, Cheong Wa Dae and defense authorities played down the scenario of the frigate Cheonan being hit by a North Korean torpedo or a mine that drifted south. Pyongyang has not issued any statement on the incident.
The U.S. has remained more cautious about North Korean involvement. "I don't think there's a way to determine that at this point, given that the boat in question, I think, is submerged," Geoff Morrell, spokesman for the Department of Defense, told reporters Tuesday in Washington.
"I think they have some more work to do to determine that." Desperate efforts to rescue the sailors believed to be trapped in the two halves of the Cheonan hit a snag Wednesday as stormy weather whipped up high waves and brought operations to a halt.
Nevertheless, rescuers succeeded in confirming the doors of the ship's bow and stern parts were open, paving the way for stepped-up search-and-rescue operations, according to a JCS spokesman.
gallantjung@koreatimes.co.kr
선체 인양작업 내주 시작
김태영 국방장관은 수요일 실종자 구조 작업에 별 진척이 없자 서해에서 침몰된 초계함 천안호의 인양 작업을 내주 초 시작할 것이라고 밝혔다.
김 장관은 사고 원인을 규명하기 위해 오늘 해군 함정 및 무기 전문가 60명으로 구성된 조사팀을 현장에 투입할 것이라고 말했다.
김장관은 인양작업은 수색 및 구조 작업과 동시에 이루어질 것이라고 말했다.
그는 서울에서 기자들에게 “두 작업을 동시에 할 생각입니다. 배 인양 전문가들과 논의한 후 곧 최종 최선의 결정을 내릴 것”이라고 말했다.
김 장관은 천안호와 경기도 평택 해군 제2함대 사령부 그리고 그 외 인근 전함과의 무선 교신 공개 요구는 대외비라며 거절했다.
국내 언론은 북한 소형 잠수정 현장에서 퇴각시키는 등 이 함정이 비밀 작전을 했을 수도 있고 어뢰나 기뢰에 맞았을 지도 모른다고 보고했다.
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