|
South Korean Ship Was Sunk by North Korean Torpedo
On March 26, a South Korean navy ship, the "Cheonan," sank with the loss of all 46 sailors on board. When she went down, the "Cheonan" was near the ill-defined maritime border with North Korea off the western coast of the peninsula. An investigation led by experts from the US, Australia, Britain and Sweden now says that the ship was sunk by a North Korean torpedo.
The most damning statement came at the end.
Based on all such relevant facts and classified analysis, we have reached the clear conclusion that ROKS 'Cheonan' was sunk as the result of an external underwater explosion caused by a torpedo made in North Korea. The evidence points overwhelmingly to the conclusion that the torpedo was fired by a North Korean submarine. There is no other plausible explanation.
It is one thing for a ship to run into a mine and quite another for it to be torpedoed. Mines are pretty stupid devices. They just sit there, and they kill anything that rubs up against them. Were it a mine that sank the "Cheonan," one would be prepared to call the whole thing a mistake. A torpedo attack is another sort of beast. It is deliberate. A ship captain has to give the order to fire. It is no mere mistake.
Now, North Korea is a nation run by men who may or may not be sociopaths, and their scientists can sort of make nuclear weapons. The United States has already labeled this incident as "act of aggression." The Chinese, North Korea's big backers, have called the sinking "unfortunate," and they have "noted" the report. That means they know their clients have screwed up, and they want to find a way out of the mess.
Meanwhile, the BBC has noted that South Korea has decided this is a big deal. Mr. Lee's presidential office said he had told Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd: "We will be taking firm, responsive measures against the North - and through international co-operation, we have to make the North admit its wrongdoing and come back as a responsible member of the international community."
The North Koreans have said that they "will respond to reckless countermeasure with an all-out war of justice." Leaving aside for a moment that they wouldn't know justice if it jumped up and bit them, the North Koreans are rattling sabers here quite loudly. One must seriously doubt whether the patron nations of China and the USA can reign in their clients at this stage. One must hope they can.
As this journal has said before, the Pyongyang regime's very existence is a threat to world peace. Its removal is a matter of global security, and the only nation in a position to implement this change is the People's Republic of China. As usual, though, one expects Beijing to do precisely nothing in addressing the problem. At what point does South Korea decide that it doesn't care about international opinion? Can any nation accept such attacks without response? Eventually, China's inaction becomes a real issue because it calls into question whether the PRC is a global power upon which others can rely. A global system in which such an actor is unworthy of the trust of the other major participants is a system that cannot last.
© Copyright 2010 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.
Kensington Review Home
|
|
|