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South Korean ship sinking, report of SK/NK shooting

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Fig

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http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/03/26/south.korea.ship.sinking/index.html?hpt=T2
(CNN) -- A South Korean navy ship was sinking in the Yellow Sea near North Korea early Saturday, and the navy was shooting at an unidentified ship toward the north, Korean news agencies reported.

It was initially unclear whether the two incidents were related.

Yonhap News Agency quoted Navy officials saying Friday that a ship carrying 104 crew members was sinking off the Seoul-controlled island of Baengnyeong in a flashpoint area between the Koreas.

The 1,500-ton ship was sinking between 9 and 10 p.m. near the island, but the cause of the incident was not immediately known, officials said.

A rescue operation was under way. There were no immediate reports of casualties, but some sort of explosion occurred in the rear of the ship, officials told Yonhap.

The South Korean government issued a statement saying the reason for the incident remains unclear.

As a result of the report, South Korean government officials held an emergency meeting of ministers handling security-related matters, officials told Yonhap.

South Korea's Korean Broadcasting System said the ship, the Cheonan, was patrolling southwest of the island around 9:45 p.m. when the explosion took place, a military official said.

The official said Navy vessels and helicopters were rescuing crew members, some of whom reportedly jumped into the sea after the blast, the KBS report said.

The official said the Sockcho, another South Korean navy vessel patrolling nearby, fired at unidentified ships north of the area.

According to various sources, the ship sunk is a Pohang-class patrol corvette, apparently like these :

pohang_corv-3.jpg
 
The mystery object turned out to be a flock of birds apparently (according to BBC anyways); very scary timing for something like this to happen though, given the North issued another nuclear threat only a few hours beforehand.
 
I am glad nobody was killed, can't say much else till more info is given.
 
I am glad nobody was killed, can't say much else till more info is given.

Actually, there are most certainly a lot of deaths. About 40% of her crew is missing or dead.

Reuters
S.Korean ship sinking from suspected N.Korea attack - report

SEOUL (Reuters) - Several South Korean sailors were killed and one of its naval ships with more than 100 aboard was sinking on Friday after possibly being hit by a North Korean torpedo, South Korean media reported. A South Korean vessel fired at an unidentified vessel towards the north and the South's presidential Blue House was holding an emergency security meeting, Yonhap news agency said.

South Korea's YTN TV network said the government was investigating whether the sinking was due to a torpedo attack by the North.

The network also quoted a government source saying it was unclear yet whether the incident was related to North Korea.

"We are currently focussing on rescuing people," the source said.

The incident took place near a disputed Yellow Sea maritime border off the west coast of the peninsula that was the scene of two deadly naval fights between the rival Koreas in the past decade.

Local media reports said at least 59 South Korean sailors survived the attack and an unknown number appeared to have been killed or were missing. A rescue operation was under way.

Navies from the rival Koreas exchanged gunfire for the first time in seven years in the Yellow Sea waters in November, damaging vessels on both sides.

The latest incident comes as destitute North Korea is facing pressure to end its year-long boycott of international nuclear disarmament talks, where it can win aid to prop up its broken economy in exchange for reducing the security threat it poses to the region.

(Reporting by Cho Mee-young and Kim Miyoung; Writing by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Alex Richardson)

A couple of soldiers here or there can be swept under the carpet but a ship of this size is a major national asset and its loss is not neglectable. Current reports are that the Cheonan was torpedoed and that South Korean ships are returning fire. This is going to be tense.

Here's some info about the ship class.
Pohang

IOC: 1984
Total Production: 22

Also Known As
PCC (Patrol Combat Corvette)

Origin
South Korea

Contractor/s
DSME
Hyundai Heavy Industries

Guided Missiles:
MM38 Exocet (2)

Torpedoes:
Mark 46

Power plant:
LM2500

Guns & Missile Launchers:
76/62 Compact

Description: The Pohang, also referred to as Po Hang, is a class of patrol boats designed for the Republic of Korea Navy (RoKN) and built by Korea Shipbuilding Corporation, Hyundai Heavy Industries, Daewoo Shipbuilding, and Korea Takoma. The lead ship, named Pohang, was delivered to RoKN in 1984 and the last in 1993 totaling 22 ships. These ships can perform anti-submarine (ASW), anti-surface (ASuW), and anti-aircraft (AAW) warfare in the littoral environment.

The Pohang-class corvettes propulsion system combines two diesel engines for cruise with one LM2500 gas turbine. The ASW corvettes were provided with hull-mounted PHS-32 or SQS-58 sonar systems, torpedo tubes and depth charges. They are equipped with two or one 76mm OTO Melara naval guns. The AAW corvettes feature two 40mm guns and fire control system. Two MM38 Exocet anti-ship missiles were provided to each ASuW Pohang-class corvette.

Specifications

Accommodation: Crew 95

Guns: Main Gun Caliber 76 mm

Dimensions: Beam 10 m, Draft 2.9 m, Length 88 m

Weights: Full Displacement 1,300 t

Performance: Top Speed 31 kt (57 kph)

Power: Power 27,200 shp

More from Global Security
Pohang (PCC Patrol Combat Corvette)

The Pohang class ships are classified as Patrol Combat Corvette (PCC). The external form is similar to that of the Tonghae class, but is update in several respects, with a full loaded displacement of 1,300 tons. The primary mission is coastal patrol, and the class consists of 24 ships deployed as the main force for coastal defense. These ships meet complicated missions of modern naval warfare, anti-ship, anti-submarine and anti-aircraft warfare with its compact design for cost effectiveness in operation as well as in acquisition.

These ship have a multi- role capability with all the weapons and sensors for attack, ASW and self defense mission. The Pohang class ships are divided between the ASUW type and ASW type, which aere distinguished according to guns, and ASW or SSM capability. The first four of the Po Hang class are fitted Exocet and the remainder have the improved Harpoon combat data system. The ASUW type consists of 4 ships (756-759), which have 2 Exocet SSM, 1 OTO Melara 76mm gun, 2 Emerson 30mm AA guns but no ASW capability including sonar and torpedo. The ASW type consist of 20 ships (761-785), which have 2 OTO Melara 76mm guns, 2 Breda 40mm guns, sonar(PHS-32), 6 torpedos, 12 depth charges but no SSM. The last 2 ships, ROKS Sinsung (PCC-783) and ROKS Kongju (PCC-785), have improved electronic equipments for reinforced AAW capability.

Machinery is controlled from the Ship Control Center. Main propulsion power is provided by 2 MTU diesel generators. The engines drive two shafts through the installed gearboxes.

This class of ships was built by four shipbuilders in South Korea. The ROKS Pohang (PCC-756), the first ship of this class, was launched in 1984 by Korea S.E.C. at Pusan South Korea, and commissioned on December 1984. The ROKS Kongju (PCC-785), the last ship, was launched on 1993 by Korea Tacoma Marine Industries Ltd., at Masan South Korea and commissioned on July 1993. After early confusion with names and pennant numbers, this program are terminated in 1993.

The Pohang class ships were named after cities in South Korea. Pohang is port city located in coastal of East Sea and famous for the large iron works called Pohang Ironworks.
 
Per MSNBC, South Korea is having heavy second thoughts about whether or not to blame NK for this :

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36052055/ns/world_news-asiapacific/

SEOUL - A South Korean naval ship sank Friday night after an explosion tore a hole in the hull, but officials played down earlier suggestions that it may have been the result of an attack by the North.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff in Seoul said it could not conclude that the reclusive North was behind the sinking of the military vessel Cheonan off the coast of South Korean-controlled Baengnyeong Island.

A senior U.S. national security official told NBC that South Koreans had quietly issued a statement saying it was unlikely North Korea was involved in the sinking of their naval vessel.
Story continues below ↓advertisement | your ad here

Senior government officials told South Korean media the ship may not have been the target of an attack, but could have struck a rock or been impaired by an explosive on board.

Earlier, South Korean media had quoted officials as saying the North could have torpedoed the ship near the disputed western sea border that separates the two Koreas.

The ship, on a routine patrolling mission with 104 crew members on board, began sinking off the coast of South Korean-controlled Baengnyeong Island close to North Korea around 9:45 p.m. (8:45 a.m. EDT), Rear Adm. Lee Ki-sik of the Joint Chiefs of Staff told reporters late Friday.

A rescue mission was under way. A naval official told the Yonhap news agency there were deaths among the sailors, and the cable network YTN said some 40 crew members were missing. However, military officials told the AP they could not confirm deaths, and said 58 sailors had been rescued, with two being airlifted for emergency medical treatment.

Six naval ships and two coast guard vessels rushed to save the crew, Yonhap said. Rescue helicopters and ambulances also sped to the scene, military officials said.

Yonhap reported that a South Korean ship fired shots toward an unidentified target in the direction of North Korea, raising fears of an exchange of gunfire. The military official confirmed that South Korean troops fired shots but said the object detected by radar may have been a flock of birds.

The military, meanwhile, moved to strengthen its vigilance near the maritime border, the site of three bloody naval clashes between the warring Koreas. The divided peninsula remains in a state of war because the three-year Korean conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty, in 1953.

Earlier Friday, North Korea’s military threatened “unpredictable strikes,” including a nuclear attack, in anger over a report that South Korea and the U.S. were preparing for possible instability in the totalitarian country.
 
English-language Korea Times:

03-26-2010 23:09
Navy Patrol Boat Sinks in West Sea

By Lee Tae-hoon
Staff Reporter

A South Korean Navy patrol ship sank off the west coast at around 9:45 p.m. Friday near the disputed maritime border with North Korea, officials said.

As of 9:00 a.m. Saturday, 58 of the 104-crew members were rescued from the 1,200-ton ship Cheonan, but some 40 others were missing,

President Lee Myung-bak convened an emergency meeting, while the military deployed patrol boats and helicopters in a rescue operation.

The possibility of a North Korean attack was raised when local residents reported having heard "loud artillery firing" for at least 10 minutes from 11 p.m., according to Yonhap News.

Military officials were quoted as saying a South Korean vessel fired a shot northward at an unidentified ship, but the Joint Chiefs of Staff said the object caught on radar appears to have been a flock of birds.

"We have been unable to pinpoint the exact cause of the incident as of this moment," the Navy said.

Sources say an unexplained explosion in the rear of the ship may have ripped a hole in the vessel's bottom.

The United States said it had no evidence that North Korea had been involved in the tragic sinking.

"Let's not jump to conclusions here," State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said.

"I'm not aware of any evidence to that effect. But I think the authoritative source here would be the South Korean government."

The ship, which sank Saturday, was first deployed by the South Korean Navy in 1989, and was equipped with missiles and torpedoes, according to officials.

The incident comes amid increased tension between the two Koreas, which technically remain at war since the 1950-1953 Korean War ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.

North Korea has said in recent weeks it is bolstering its defense in response to joint annual South Korean-U.S. military drills that were held this month.

The disputed inter-Korean border in the West Sea was the scene of deadly naval clashes in 1999 and 2002.

That's all I can find out of Korea that isn't in Korean.

Here's an article from the Guardian:

South Korean ship in troubled waters

Details are sketchy, but if the sinking of Cheonan was intentional, it creates a serious crisis for the Koreas' neighbours and the US

Robert Farley

guardian.co.uk, Friday 26 March 2010 19.01 GMT

Late last night, the South Korean patrol ship Cheonan suffered an explosion and sank. As of midnight Korean time, 58 of the 104 member crew of the Cheonan had been rescued. The cause of the sinking of the Cheonan, a 1,300 ton missile corvette, is as of yet unknown. However, the South Korean cabinet has convened an emergency meeting to deal with the situation, and some reports suggest that a North Korean torpedo may have struck the Cheonan.

Details remain sketchy, and at this point it is unclear whether Cheonan sank as the result of an attack, or because of an accidental explosion. Another South Korean patrol ship reportedly fired on North Korean targets in the area. The area in which Cheonan sank has recently seen several skirmishes between North and South Korean forces. In January, patrol vessels from each nation exchanged gunfire with one another. A similar exchange in November resulted in severe damage to a North Korean vessel, and the death of a North Korean sailor. The disputed area involves several islands that are claimed by both sides. South Korea recognises a UN-drawn line of demarcation, while North Korea does not.

If Cheonan sank because of an accident, the incident will serve as an example of the challenges presented by high tension situations like that between North and South Korea. In such situations, a lack of information can lead to considerable danger, as both sides face pressure to react without having a grasp of the full situation. If, on the other hand, Cheonan was destroyed by a torpedo, the situation must be considered extremely grave. Forty-six crewmen at last report have yet to be accounted for, and are unlikely to survive long in cold Korean waters. South Korea cannot ignore a provocation of this magnitude, and will likely be forced to respond in some fashion. South Korea's navy substantially outmatches its North Korean counterpart, but the North Korean response to any South Korean retaliation remains uncertain.

The problem of discerning North Korean intentions complicates factors. It is possible that the North Korean government ordered the attack in order to provoke the South, but the attack may instead have been launched by lower level local commanders. Even if this were the case, however, it would be impossible for South Korea to divine genuine North Korean intentions.

If the sinking of Cheonan was intentional, it creates a serious crisis for the Koreas' neighbours and for the United States. None of the US, Japan, or China desire the threat of major military action on the Korean Peninsula. The US, still embroiled in Iraq and Afghanistan, doesn't want another military confrontation on its plate. At the same time, it will be difficult for the US to restrain South Korea from some form of retaliation. Japan's patience with North Korea has similarly run thin, and it is unlikely that Tokyo could be relied on too heavily as a voice of caution. Beijing has only limited affection for its North Korean client, but certainly does not want war, or even the threat of war. North Korea's intentions remain mysterious; if it intended to signal its toughness and resolve to South Korea, it may have bitten off more than it can chew.

At this point, I suspect that officials in Beijing, Washington, Tokyo, and perhaps even Seoul are hoping that Cheonan sank becaue of an accidental explosion. If the North Koreans sank Cheonan and killed dozens of South Korean sailors, the situation in northeast Asia may become very dangerous very quickly.
 
Let's just hope that it wasn't deliberate then... if war breaks out again, it will be catastrophic. The North may be, um, strange, but I can't imagine that even they would try to start something of this magnitude... Cross your fingers, everyone; this could still get really ugly really fast.
 
Let's just hope that it wasn't deliberate then... if war breaks out again, it will be catastrophic. The North may be, um, strange, but I can't imagine that even they would try to start something of this magnitude... Cross your fingers, everyone; this could still get really ugly really fast.

Last news i red from BBC interactive said that North Korea was no longer suspected
Cannot say im surprised
If NK really had it would have been like commitiing suicide
 
Latest news out of Korea is that divers inspecting the wreck have given their initial conclusion as the ship being blown up by a drifting mine. Given that it should be pretty obvious to such trained divers if the explosions were internal or external, we can now shift out the question to where the hell did this mine (or thing able to cause similar damage) come from? A leftover from the Korean war? Something deliberately set in the path of a known patrol route?
 
Or a mine from a perfectly "innocent" (eg, set to defend military instalations) that, you know, drifted.
 
There are possibly mines left over from the war 60 years ago still floating around out there. This could be a bad case of wrong place/wrong time.
 
This seems to be another example of why mines are bad, whether on land or water. Has North Korea made any reaction to the incident? Would like to know if this was a mere case of "wrong place, wrong time" or a purposefully created by the North Koreans to attack South Korea.
 
There are possibly mines left over from the war 60 years ago still floating around out there. This could be a bad case of wrong place/wrong time.

Weren't most of those mines cleared away after the agreement though? IIRC, the last mine found was in the early 90s. Granted there's a chance it just went undetected, but given the size of the gap it does seem unlikely (almost 20 years now).
 
The shit is about to hit the fan...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8600959.stm
South Korea ship torpedo 'likely' - defence minister

South Korea's defence minister has renewed speculation a torpedo could have caused the blast that sank a warship off its coast last week.

Kim Tae-young said it was a "likely possibility" the Cheonan had been hit by such a missile, but that all possibilities needed to be considered.

Mr Kim did not say who would have fired a torpedo or under what circumstances it could have happened.

Rescuers are still searching for 46 sailors missing on board the ship.

Officials say some could be trapped alive in watertight sections of the vessel.

"We'd like to think our sailors were well-trained enough to survive days underwater," said Cdr Song Moo-jin of South Korea's naval salvage unit.

Mr Kim had previously said a sea mine could have caused the blast, which tore the 1,200-tonne corvette in half near Baengnyeong Island, close to the maritime border with North Korea.
Map

But on Friday, he told parliament a torpedo was "a more realistic cause than a mine".

Mr Kim said sailors who had escaped the ship had not reported detecting any incoming missiles before the blast, the Yonhap news agency reported.

Earlier in the week, South Korea's President Lee Myung-bak said there had to be "no suspicion or negligence" in the investigation.

Shortly after the sinking, Seoul said it did not believe Pyongyang had fired on the ship.

There were initial reports another South Korean ship had fired shots toward an unidentified vessel after the blast, but officials later speculated the target had been a flock of birds.

Officials have said establishing a definitive cause could have to wait until the ship is salvaged.

The search for the missing sailors continued on Friday, after poor weather disrupted operations on previous days.

Yonhap said 169 military divers were searching the area throughout the day although conditions were still difficult.

Oxygen has been piped into the vessel, but divers have detected no signs of life.

Pyongyang has made no official comment on the incident.

It does not accept the maritime border, known as the Northern Limit Line, which was drawn unilaterally by the US-led United Nations Command at the end of the Korean War.

The sea border has been the scene of deadly clashes between the navies of the two Koreas in the past.
 
Yes, and last week he said a mine was "likely".

I'm pretty sure we'll be hearing more rhetoric before anything hit the fan.
 
It'd be a good idea to keep an eye on this man and the generals under him as well. If they do prove that this was something from the North, then there won't be a lot of rhetoric. They're still at war, it's just a cease-fire. The army could quite possibly and legally take unilateral action.
 
What they can legally do and what they can politically do are two worlds, though.

I'd imagine that politically it might be a good idea to sell to the Korean people, in more certain terms than "It was likely a torpedo of unspecified origin", why, exactly, their capital is about to be razed by artillery blitz before you get in that situation.
 
Not that I want to bump a 3rd page topic, but some information has come out about the Torpedo.

Times of London said:
Last month’s deadly sinking of a South Korean naval ship was caused by a North Korean torpedo, a news report said today, adding to pressure on the South’s President. Lee Myung Bak, to respond to one of the worst acts of military provocation since the Korean War.

The South Korean defence ministry declined to comment on the claim by the Yonhap news agency, the latest in a series of reports suggesting that the mysterious sinking of the naval corvette, Cheonan, on March 26 was a deliberate and unprovoked attack by North Korea.

Forty-six sailors are dead or missing after the attack, which cut the 1200-tonne vessel in two. But President Lee’s Government appears to be struggling to find an appropriate response, which will demonstrate its resolve in the face of aggression, but stop short of a costly and unpredictable war.

“Military intelligence made the report to the Blue House [the presidential palace] and defence ministry immediately after the sinking of the Cheonan that it is clearly the work of North Korea’s military,” an unnamed military source was quoted as telling Yonhap. “North Korean submarines are all armed with heavy torpedoes with 200kg warheads. It is the military intelligence’s assessment that the North attacked with a heavy torpedo.”

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article7104498.ece

If that is the truth, then South Korea pretty much has every right to respond. The problem is this might touch off a war in which nuclear weapons could be used.
 
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