SKorea Navy Ship Sinking in Waters Near NKorea

[incarcerated]

http://abcnews.go.com/International/...ry?id=10209959

SKorea Navy Ship Sinking in Waters Near NKorea

Report: Explosion ripped hole in bottom of sinking SKorean ship in waters near North Korea
The Associated Press
By KWANG-TAE KIM Associated Press Writer
SEOUL, South Korea March 26, 2010 (AP)
South Korea's military scrambled 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.

The ship — reported to have 104 crew on board — began sinking off the coast of South Korean-controlled Baengnyeong Island close to North Korea around 10:45 p.m. (1345 GMT, 9:45 a.m. EDT), an official at the Joint Chiefs of Staff said, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with department policy.

He said the exact cause was not immediately clear. South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported an explosion in the rear of the 1,200-ton ship, but the official said he could not confirm the report.

Minutes later, Yonhap reported that another South Korean ship fired shots toward an unidentified target in the direction of North Korea. The Joint Chiefs official said he could not confirm the shooting but said the military was strengthening its vigilance in the area.

The incident comes amid heightened tension between the two Koreas, which remain in a state of war because their three-year conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty, in 1953.

President Lee Myung-bak convened an emergency meeting of security-related ministers, Yonhap said, citing presidential spokeswoman Kim Eun-hye.

Six naval ships and two coast guard vessels were rushed to the waters to rescue the crew of 104 on board the sinking ship, Yonhap said. More than 50 had been saved so far, the report said.

[The Reaper]

Mine, most likely.

Payback.

TR

[Pete]

1,200 tons?

That should put it in the Pohang or Donghae Class of corvettes.

[LarryW]

Unconfirmed.

AP is reporting the vessel as the PCC-772 (ROKN Cheonan). Seems the ROK defense ministers are going to meet tomorrow. Most probably there's concern re: whether it was an attack or result of other problems (running aground, engineering explosion, etc). Of the 104 aboard AP reports 40 missing and 58 rescued. Mine or torpedo could well have been the cause. Not sure if North Korea has any torpedoes small enough to just put a hole in a PC. I think most of what they have in the way of torpedos are the old Soviet monsters. Wiil be interesting to watch the response of China (who is developing their own blue water position) and BHO as he celebrates his victory with the Russians.

The beat goes on...

[Pete]

Originally Posted by LarryW

Unconfirmed.

AP is reporting the vessel as the PCC-772 (ROKN Cheonan). ......

Pohang Class Corvette

They had something like 24 of them - 23 now.

[Penn]

An explosion that split in two a South Korean naval ship may have been caused by a 60-year-old sea mine........

An old mine floats around for sixty year and then boom...an unintended collision occurs in/on and about your contested boarder lines. What are the odds of such a freak accident???

[echoes]

Just saw this crossing the wire...things could get ugly, it seems?

North Korea warns of war if punished for ship sinking

By HYUNG-JIN KIM & JEAN H. LEE Associated Press
Published: 5/20/2010 5:23 AM
Last Modified: 5/20/2010 10:20 AM

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea said Thursday that South Korea fabricated evidence implicating the North in a torpedo attack in order to pick on the North and any attempt at retaliating for the warship's sinking would be answered with "all-out war."

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak vowed "stern action" for the attack after a multinational investigation issued its long-awaited results Thursday, concluding the North fired a torpedo that sank the Cheonan navy ship March 26 near the Koreas' tense sea border.

"If the (South Korean) enemies try to deal any retaliation or punishment, or if they try sanctions or a strike on us .... we will answer to this with all-out war," Col. Pak In Ho of North Korea's navy told broadcaster APTN in an exclusive interview in Pyongyang.

An international civilian-military investigation team said evidence overwhelmingly proves a North Korean submarine fired a homing torpedo that caused a massive underwater blast that tore the Cheonan apart. Fifty-eight sailors were rescued from the frigid Yellow Sea, but 46 perished in the South's worst military disaster since the Korean War.

Since the 1950-53 war on the Korean peninsula ended in a truce rather than a peace treaty, the Koreas remain locked in a state of war and divided by the world's most heavily armed border.

The truce prevents Seoul from waging a unilateral military attack.

However, South Korea and the U.S., which has 28,500 troops on the peninsula, could hold joint military exercises in a show of force, said Daniel Pinkston, a Seoul-based analyst for the International Crisis Group think tank.

South Korean and U.S. officials also said they are considering a variety of options in response to the warship's sinking, ranging from U.N. Security Council action to additional U.S. penalties.

The exchange of war rhetoric raised tensions, but the isolated communist regime — already under international pressure to cease its nuclear weapons program — often warns of dire consequences against South Korea or Washington for any punitive steps against it. Its large but decrepit military would be no match for U.S. and Korean forces.

The impoverished country is already chafing from international sanctions tightened last year in the wake of widely condemned nuclear and missile tests. U.N. sanctions currently block funding to certain officials and companies, while North Korea is barred from exporting weapons and countries are authorized to inspect North Korean ships suspected of carrying illicit cargo.

South Korea "will take resolute countermeasures against North Korea and make it admit its wrongdoings through strong international cooperation," Lee said during a call with Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, the presidential office said. Lee convened an emergency meeting for Friday.

The White House called the sinking an unacceptable "act of aggression" that violates international law and the 1953 truce. Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama declared his support for South Korea, calling North Korea's actions "inexcusable."

China, North Korea's traditional ally, called the sinking of the naval ship "unfortunate" but stopped short of backing Seoul.

Pyongyang continued its steadfast denials of involvement in the sinking.

Full Article:
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/artic...0_SEOULS790500

[Penn]

Clinton pushes for North Korea sanctions over ship's sinking....

....With any other President, this act of War would have been meet head-on.

China's embrace of DRNK actions, by meeting the PM in China, signaled to the world the impotence of the US. Occupied abroad on two fronts, we are not in position to contest control of the N. Pacific, or the eastern flank of Asia for that matter. Its a new world.

[sf11b_p]

Reminds me of reading of ships and aircraft lost during the Cold War. The SAC Museum had a Cold War display, very eye opening.

Like...

USN PB4Y-2 Privateer 59645 Shot down by (1) USSR LA-11 (Fang), Baltic Sea (April 8, 1950)

USAF C-130 60528 shot down by (4) USSR MiG-I7, Armenian Turkish border (September 2, 1958)

USAF RB-47H 53-4281 Shot down by (1) USSR PVO Strany MiG-19, Barents Sea (July 1, 1960)

USS Pueblo (AGER-2) surrendered/captured, N. Korea, Sea of Japan (January 23, 1968)

USS Scorpion (SSN-589) Sinking (USSR?) Azores (May 22, 1968)

USN EC-121M (VQ-1) Shot down by N. Korean MiG-17, Sea of Japan (April 15, 1969) (Birthday of Kim Il-Sung.)

(Forgot about this one.)

SS Mayaguez captured by Khmer Rouge, Gulf of Siam, crew released, ship recaptured by U.S. forces (May 12–15, 1975)

And.

EP-3E Aries II 156511 mid-air collision with PRC J-8 II Finback, crew and aircraft captured on emergency landing, returned (1 April 2001 - July, 2001)

All these happened in international waters or neutral territories.

So why would anyone expect more than words now.

[Richard]

DPRK is a hurting puppy and giving them a reason to point the finger of blame outside their own nest of vipers will only unite and allow them to rally against a commonly perceived foe - enforcable sanctions (imports/exports/shunning by the international community) and containment are acceptable to me...but China has to go along with such a COA to make it work, too. The BIG question IMO is - Is it in their interests to do so and will they?

And so it goes...

Richard's $.02

[LarryW]

(fm Broadsword2004) Do Iraq and Afghanistan really undermine our influence in the North Pacific and the eastern flank of Asia? Isn't that something that would more be handled by the Navy?

Good point, sir, but I think the responsibility is more an issue of who the US Unified Commander is for ROK. COMSEVENTHFLT is the Navy boss in the area, and CINCPAC was anyway his boss. Not sure if that's managed under a JTF or other administrative structure. I could be wrong (I am frequently) but I think the Army is the boss for all issues re: to ROK.

Edit Note: Found this link.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_...Command_(Korea)

[LarryW]

The more I re-read my last post on this subject the more I realized how stupid my comments were.

The Commander United Nations (Korea) is (or was) indeed a USA Gen'l (Sharp). But the real issue is why doesn't the UN Unified Commander assign the solution of this dilemma to the Navy. IMO the quandary comes from the fact that Gen'l Sharp has to clear any movements against DPRK with POTUS and probably the UN Security Council, and given that force projection isn't what you could call BHO's strongest suite, the issue is being left at the State Dept. Hillary is busy trying to muster support from our sugar daddy (China) but that's probably about as far is this will go. That is, until the ROK has had enough. It's a foreign policy problem similar to Israel vs Iran except that the ROK is a member of the multi-national force in Korea, and as such can't really act on their own in any deep way without concurrence from the UN. The North knows this and IMO are basically enjoying all the time in the world. Personally, I'd like to see an ROK submarine retaliate by sneaking into Nampo and sinking the ex-USS PUEBLO pierside.