South Korea accused North Korea yesterday of torpedoing a warship near their disputed border, sending regional tensions rising as the North responded with threats of war.
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak promised “resolute countermeasures” after a multinational investigation team said there was overwhelming evidence a North Korean submarine sank the ship on March 26 with the loss of 46 lives.
The US, Britain, Australia and Japan strongly condemned Pyongyang, but China, whose backing would be crucial in any attempt to penalize the North, appealed for restraint and did not criticize its ally.
Taiwan's Presidential Office yesterday did not follow Japan and the US in condemning North Korea, instead emphasizing that the national security unit would continue to monitor the development closely.
It said it would continue to stay alert and prepare a necessary response, but did not elaborate on what “necessary response” meant.
Pyongyang said the investigators' report was based on “sheer fabrication” and threatened “all-out war” in response to any attempt to punish it.
“The evidence points overwhelmingly to the conclusion that the torpedo was fired by a North Korean submarine,” the investigators said in a report. “There is no other plausible explanation.”
The White House called the attack “a challenge to international peace and security and a violation of the armistice agreement” which ended the 1950-1953 war.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague condemned a “callous act,” while Japan said the North's action was “unforgivable” and soured hopes of restarting six-party nuclear disarmament talks.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon described the facts in the report as deeply troubling.
The sinking caused outrage in South Korea, which declared five days of national mourning last month. Cross-border relations, which have been frosty for months, went into a deep chill.
However, Seoul has apparently ruled out a military counterstrike for fear of igniting all-out war and is instead likely to ask the UN Security Council to slap new sanctions on its neighbor.
This would need agreement from China, a veto-wielding member.
“All parties should stay calm and exercise restraint,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu (馬朝旭) said in Beijing, adding that China would make its own assessment of the investigation results.
The investigators laid out apparently damning evidence against Pyongyang, which is thought by some analysts to have acted in revenge for a naval firefight in November in the area.
The 1,200-tonne corvette was split apart by a shockwave and bubble effect produced by a 250kg homing North Korean torpedo, the report said.
It said parts salvaged from the Yellow Sea “perfectly match” a type of torpedo that the North has offered for export.
A marking in Korea's hangeul script was found on one recovered section and matches markings on a stray North Korean torpedo recovered by the South seven years ago, investigators said.
Investigators displayed evidence at a nationally televised press conference, including rusty torpedo parts with two propellers.
They said the attack was likely carried out by a small submarine that infiltrated from international waters to avoid detection.
“We confirmed that a few small submarines and a mother ship supporting them left a North Korean naval base in the West [Yellow] Sea two to three days prior to the attack and returned to port two to three days after the attack,” the report said.
The North's top organ, the National Defense Commission, said it would send its own investigators to the South to check the purported evidence.
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