Thursday 20 May 2010


Q&A: CHEONAN SINKING

BBC News, May 20, 2010

International investigators say a North Korean submarine sank a South Korean warship, the Cheonan, on 26 March. The investigators say a North Korean torpedo split the vessel in half. Forty-six sailors were killed. The BBC looks at the implications of the incident.

What happened?

On the evening of 26 March the Cheonan warship, a corvette, was sailing off Baengnyeong island close to the disputed inter-Korean maritime border. An explosion split it in two and it sank. Fifty-eight sailors managed to escape but 46 were killed.

Investigators looked at whether a mine left over from the Korean War could have been to blame, or an internal malfunction on the ship. But they concluded that what sank the ship was a torpedo fired from a North Korean submarine, saying that part of the torpedo found on the sea floor carried lettering that matched a North Korean design.

What does North Korea say?

North Korea denies any responsibility for the incident and accuses the South of "fabrication". It says it wishes to send its own team of experts to verify the evidence.
What might have motivated the attack remains unclear. Naval vessels from the two Koreas have clashes on several occasions off the west coast of the Korean Peninsula - but these incidents involve warships exchanging fire. The use of a submarine to sink a ship marks a dramatic escalation in these clashes.

Analysts have suggested various reasons for the attack. These include an attempt to rally the military around the leadership of Kim Jong-il as he prepares to name a successor; a unilateral act by the North Korean military; or an attempt to force Seoul to resume previous aid and trade policies now viewed dimly by South Korean President Lee Myung-bak.

(...) [artículo aquí]

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