26-03-2010, 06:10 PM
(This post was last modified: 26-03-2010, 06:13 PM by Keith Millea.)
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/03/26-7
Published on Friday, March 26, 2010 by The New York Times S. Korean Navy Ship Sinking in Disputed Waters; N. Korean Torpedo?
by Choe Sang-Hun
SEOUL - A South Korean navy patrol ship was sinking near the disputed western sea border with North Korea on Friday after suffering damage to its hull, the South Korean military said.
![[Image: southkoreanship_explosion.jpg]](http://www.commondreams.org/files/article_images/southkoreanship_explosion.jpg)
This undated picture shows South Korea's Cheonan naval ship in South Korea, Friday, March 26, 2010. South Korea's military scrambled Cheonan naval vessels to the western waters near the disputed maritime border with North Korea late Friday after an explosion ripped a hole in the bottom of a military ship, officials and news reports said. (AP Photo/ Yonhap)
The South Korean authorities were investigating the possibility that the 1,200-ton ship had been attacked by a torpedo fired by the North Korean navy, the South Korean news agency Yonhap reported, citing an unnamed military source. The agency reported that another South Korean patrol ship had fired at an unidentified vessel shortly after the first ship was damaged.
Those reports could not be independently confirmed.
"Many of the 104 sailors on the ship jumped into the sea, and there is a fear that there may be some human causalities," Yonhap reported.
President Lee Myung-bak ordered an emergency meeting of security-related cabinet ministers at an underground bunker at his office, the Blue House in Seoul, South Korean news reports said.
"All we can say for now is that one of our patrol ships is sinking after it suffered a rupture in its bottom created by an unidentified cause," said a spokesman at the South Korean Office of Joint Chiefs of Staff. He spoke on condition of anonymity until South Korea made a formal announcement.
The ship was sinking in Yellow Sea near Byeongryeong, a South Korean island about eight miles from the north Korean coast and 120 miles from the mainland South.
The waters along the disputed western sea border between the two Koreas make up the most volatile section of the border between North and South Korea, and were the site of bloody naval skirmishes in 1999 and 2002.
North Korea rejects a sea border unilaterally drawn by the United Nations at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War and defended by the South Koreans. It has repeatedly warned of naval clashes there.
In November, naval patrol boats from the North and South exchanged fire after a North Korean boat crossed that sea border, called the northern-limit line. The North Korean patrol boat was damaged in the skirmish and retreated after the skirmish.
Copyright 2010 The New York Times Company
Published on Friday, March 26, 2010 by The New York Times S. Korean Navy Ship Sinking in Disputed Waters; N. Korean Torpedo?
by Choe Sang-Hun
SEOUL - A South Korean navy patrol ship was sinking near the disputed western sea border with North Korea on Friday after suffering damage to its hull, the South Korean military said.
This undated picture shows South Korea's Cheonan naval ship in South Korea, Friday, March 26, 2010. South Korea's military scrambled Cheonan naval vessels to the western waters near the disputed maritime border with North Korea late Friday after an explosion ripped a hole in the bottom of a military ship, officials and news reports said. (AP Photo/ Yonhap)The South Korean authorities were investigating the possibility that the 1,200-ton ship had been attacked by a torpedo fired by the North Korean navy, the South Korean news agency Yonhap reported, citing an unnamed military source. The agency reported that another South Korean patrol ship had fired at an unidentified vessel shortly after the first ship was damaged.
Those reports could not be independently confirmed.
"Many of the 104 sailors on the ship jumped into the sea, and there is a fear that there may be some human causalities," Yonhap reported.
President Lee Myung-bak ordered an emergency meeting of security-related cabinet ministers at an underground bunker at his office, the Blue House in Seoul, South Korean news reports said.
"All we can say for now is that one of our patrol ships is sinking after it suffered a rupture in its bottom created by an unidentified cause," said a spokesman at the South Korean Office of Joint Chiefs of Staff. He spoke on condition of anonymity until South Korea made a formal announcement.
The ship was sinking in Yellow Sea near Byeongryeong, a South Korean island about eight miles from the north Korean coast and 120 miles from the mainland South.
The waters along the disputed western sea border between the two Koreas make up the most volatile section of the border between North and South Korea, and were the site of bloody naval skirmishes in 1999 and 2002.
North Korea rejects a sea border unilaterally drawn by the United Nations at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War and defended by the South Koreans. It has repeatedly warned of naval clashes there.
In November, naval patrol boats from the North and South exchanged fire after a North Korean boat crossed that sea border, called the northern-limit line. The North Korean patrol boat was damaged in the skirmish and retreated after the skirmish.
Copyright 2010 The New York Times Company
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