By Blaine Harden and June LeeSaturday, March 27, 2010
TOKYO -- A South Korean naval ship sank early Saturday after an explosion tore a hole in its bottom near a disputed sea border with North Korea.
Rescuers pulled 58 crew members, including the captain, from the ship before it sank, but more than 40 others are missing. The Seoul government did not blame North Korea for the incident, which occurred in an area of the Yellow Sea where three North-South naval skirmishes have occurred in the past decade.
A spokeswoman for President Lee Myung-bak said the government is withholding judgment about the cause of the explosion, pending further investigation.
"Finding the truth [behind the incident] is important, but saving our soldiers is more important," Lee said, according to the Yonhap news agency.
The ship, a 1,200-ton frigate built in 1989, was on a routine patrol mission with 104 crew members on board. It began sinking near Baengnyeong Island, which is controlled by South Korea, after an explosion that occurred Friday evening.
Six naval ships, two coast guard vessels and rescue helicopters raced to the area. Lee convened an emergency meeting of security officials, and the military activated an emergency task force.
South Korean naval ships fired shots in the direction of North Korea toward unidentified objects that appeared on radar, according to the president's office, which added that the objects may have been a flock of birds. In Washington, the State Department said it was not aware of any North Korean involvement in the incident.
North Korea did not immediately comment on the explosion. But earlier Friday, its military had threatened possible strikes, including a nuclear attack, over reports that the United States and South Korea were making contingency plans for possible instability in the North. State-controlled media in Pyongyang frequently make such threats, and they are rarely regarded as serious.
North Korea has complained for decades about the North-South border in the Yellow Sea. Known as the Northern Limit Line, it was drawn by the U.S. military at the end of the Korean War in 1953.
The most recent of the three previous skirmishes in the area occurred in November. In those incidents, North Korea's aging naval ships have taken a pounding from South Korea's far more modern and better-armed vessels.
Past engagements or provocations occurred within a one-mile radius of the Northern Limit Line. But initial reports Friday suggested that damage to the South Korean frigate occurred when the vessel was farther south of the disputed zone.
Earlier clashes along the western sea border, even when they resulted in many casualties on the North Korean side, have not had a long-term destabilizing effect on North-South relations.
Lee, a special correspondent, reported from Seoul.
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◆2010/04/05(월) -서해전선 이상있다
아직 전쟁이 끝나지 않아 휴전상태가 57년이나 계속되고 있는 땅 한반도, 지구상에 이런 나라가 또 있겠습니까. 지난 60년, 3년간의 처참한 동족상잔의 비극은 일단 끝이 났지만 그 뒤에도 대한민국은 유엔의 결의에 따라 한반도의 유일무이한 합법정부이면서도 제구실을 못하고, 그 자리도 상실하고, 날마다 불법으로 북한 땅을 점유하고 2300만 우리 동족을 굶어죽게 만드는 김일성·김정일 부자의 도발에 시달리며 여기까지 왔습니다.
이번에 서해에서 벌어진 일들은 이명박 대통령의 입장에서는, “증거 없이 북 관련 거론 땐 자칫 국제문제가 될 수 있어”라고 한 마디 하면서, “좀 조용해”라는 말로 심사숙고를 종용할 수 있을지 모르지만 일반 국민의 입장은 다릅니다. 우리는 이미 판단을 내리고 있습니다. 기뢰나 어뢰 등 외부폭발의 가능성이 높아졌다는 보도가 있기 전부터 남북 간에 어떤 심각한 일이 벌어졌음을 감지하고 있습니다.
기뢰나 어뢰 같은 폭탄이 어디서 날아와 초계함 천안함이 백령도 인근 해상에서 침몰케 하였겠는가. 미국이나 일본의 잠수함 또는 중국의 잠수함이 한 짓일 것이라고 생각하는 국민은 한 사람도 없습니다. 그렇다면 일은 이미 벌어진 것 아닙니까.
이 이상 우왕좌왕 용납 안 되는 위기에 직면했다는 일반 국민의 ‘느낌’은 전혀 근거가 없는 것입니까. 혹시 서해의 백령도, 대청도, 소청도를 차제에 먹어버리겠다는 심보가 아닐까 하는 생각이 듭니다. 그런 위기라면 대통령은 어떻게 하실 겁니까. 이승만처럼 하실 수 있습니까.
김동길
www.kimdonggill.com
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We urgently need a post-unification policies not just from government but Christians.
WWJD?
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