Seoul’s defense minister yesterday promised retaliation over the sinking of a South Korean warship that killed 46 sailors near the disputed sea border with North Korea last month.
“Those responsible for killing our soldiers must pay the price,” South Korean Defense Minister Kim Tae-young told a KBS TV program aired nationwide yesterday. “Retaliation — in whatever form it is — must be done.”
It echoed South Korean Navy Admiral Kim Sung-chan’s reprisal pledge during Thursday’s mass funeral for the sailors, attended by South Korean President Lee Myung-bak.
Lee will preside over a scheduled meeting of key military commanders tomorrow to discuss the sinking of the Cheonan, becoming the first South Korea president to chair such a meeting, his office said yesterday.
“President Lee will check what tasks the Cheonan incident handed to our military and people, and state his position as the supreme commander of the armed forces,” presidential spokesman Park Sun-kyoo said.
South Korea has not openly blamed its communist neighbor for the blast that tore apart the 1,200-tonne corvette Cheonan in the Yellow Sea on March 26, but tensions between Pyongyang and Seoul have been simmering since the sinking, with suspicions growing that the North might have been behind the incident.
The North denies involvement.
Kim Tae-young told the KBS show that tiny “slivers of aluminum” collected from where the ship went down were being examined to see if they came from weapons used to sink the ship.
Kim has said a heavy torpedo was among the likeliest causes of the sinking, but he cautioned that the aluminum pieces, 3mm in size, were not yet treated as “decisive” evidence, adding the probe should clarify if they belong to the vessel or something else.
Searchers are scouring the seabed for any other clues that could confirm whether the Cheonan was attacked.
Defense ministry officials said investigators were also trying to recover video images from surveillance cameras aboard the sunken ship to help determine what downed the vessel.
“The investigation team is trying to recover the images of five to six closed circuit televisions installed at key passages and ammunition rooms on the vessel in a bid to get a clue to finding out situations at the time of the explosion,” a ministry official said.
The Yellow Sea area was the scene of deadly naval clashes in 1999 and 2002, and of a firefight in November last year that set a North Korean patrol boat ablaze.
The sinking of the warship has effectively put a brake on diplomatic efforts aimed at reviving six-nation nuclear disarmament talks on North Korea.
The North has also seized some assets owned by Seoul at the North’s Mount Kumgang tourist resort and announced it would let a new partner take over the tour business there from South Korea’s Hyundai Asan.
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