A new study claims that the sinking of the Cheonan warship was caused by an underwater mine explosion and not, as was originally suggested, by a torpedo. The incident was frequently alleged by liberals to be a hoax of the Lee Myung-bak administration because it contributed to the rationalisation of the administration’s policy toward North Korea.
Liberal newspapers such as the Hankyoreh, where this article was originally published, have tried hard to debunk the conclusions of the joint investigative report; however, as netizens comment below, opinion still seems to be divided along political lines.
From Hankyoreh:
‘Mine explosion is likely cause of sinking of Cheonan,’ foreign research claims
Research in an international journal claims that the sinking of the Cheonan warship in March 2010 was highly likely to have been caused by an abandoned mine that was planted by the [South] Korean Navy. It is the second research paper that has studied the cause of the incident since Professor Hong Hae-kyung (Earth system science) disclosed a report that analyses the seismic waves and effectively supports the conclusions of the joint investigative team.
The head of the Korea seismological Institute Kim So-gu and Dr. Yefim Gitterman from the Geophysical Institute of Israel (GII) revealed the findings in a report in an international journal, ‘Pure and Applied Geophysics.’ The report claims that there must have been an underwater explosion that triggered a tremor with a scale of 2.04, which is in line with 136 kilogram of TNT explosive effect; an amount that is exactly the same amount in explosives the Navy used when planting land control mines during the 1970s—that have been since abandoned.
With regards to the cause of the underwater explosion, the research team analysed underwater explosion models, equations and simulations to estimate the amount of explosives and determine the cycle of gas bubbles. Underwater explosions trigger bubbles that rapidly expand and shrink repeatedly; the cycle of one expansion-contraction which damages the ship in such an explosion is called the ‘Bubble Cycle.’ The Bubble Cycle is a value to find the depth of an explosion as well as the amount of explosives; in this case, the team calculated the value as 0.990 seconds.
As they hypothesised, using various combinations of explosive quantities and depths, the team found that 136 kilogram of TNT and an 8-metre deep explosion seems to best suit Bubble Cycle obtained from the data observed. But according to the research, as the team reports, 250 kilogram of TNT seems at odds with the observed data.
The possibility of a ‘land control mine’ explosion was fairly reviewed by the joint investigative team. According to the joint investigation report published in 2010, the Navy planted land control mines dotted around the Northwest islands region in 1977; they nullified those mines by cutting firing wires and abandoned the ‘bodies’ as the mines were deemed no longer necessary. The joint investigative team excluded the possibility of mine explosion, saying ‘The region where the sinking happened has a land control mine situated in 47 metre deep waters with 136kg of explosives, which is not strong enough to break the ship in half.’
Prof Kim said, ‘The joint investigation report does not fully reflect the basics of underwater explosions and bubble dynamics. We have to re-investigate the case to make sure the conclusion is scientific and reasonable as other possibilities arise.’
Meanwhile, an associate from the Ministry of Defence dismissed the possibility of a mine explosion, saying ‘It is a proven fact that the Cheonan ship was torpedoed by the North after months of investigation by experts from various nations’ and ‘moreover, decisive proof, a torpedo propeller, was found at the scene.’
Comments from Nate:
한상현:
Does anyone believe that a North Korean submergence vehicle secretly infiltrated and torpedoed a South Korean ship during Korea-US joint military exercises and safely went back to the North? They say it was torpedoed yet no one saw a water pillar and the victims have no external traumas; their so called ‘proof’ looks at least 30 years old with ‘ number one ’ written with a permanent marker on it. Would you buy into this? There are a number of absurdities around this case which I’m not gonna discuss here. Ask anyone who has enlisted in the Navy and they’d find it hilarious. I believe the truth will come out eventually.
김상희:
Is there anyone stupid enough to still believe that the sinking was the North’s fault??
이성희:
The thing is, there are those people who still believes what the government said.. What a successful deception.
김미영:
Who are the culprits behind these organisations, individuals and broadcasting networks? <SBS-North Korea’s fault/ torpedo investigation team from various nations-North Korea’s fault/the presidents of allied nations-North Korea’s fault/MBC-North Korea’s fault/KBS-North Korea’s fault/Conservative newspapers-North Korea’s fault/CNN-North Korea’s fault/CCTV-North Korea’s fault/Asahi-North Korea’s fault/YTN-North Korea’s fault/the US government-North Korea’s fault/UN-North Korea’s fault/Daum Agora, Nate, the Democratic United Party-the Korean government’s fault>
김태경:
I knew this article was going to be from either Hankyoreh or OhmyNews
김진욱:
It would be freaking ridiculous to believe this report. I was in the Navy when the incident happened; my fellow sailors laughed when the incident first happened, saying ‘what kind of moron would crash the boat into a rock?’ I mean, we go there every day. And don’t you know what minesweeper is? The ship is dedicated to mine searching, and you think they didn’t make sure the route is mine-free, even though it’s a frequently visited region? Hey you guys, say ‘ Kim Jong-ill is a son of a bitch .’
박찬주:
a-hyu Red-Hankyoreh is living up to its expectations.
김태경:
This newspaper is so going to write crap about the ship being caught by seaweed and broken in half.
신재철:
In a democracy, the people get the government they deserve. – Alexis de Tocqueville.
김일권:
The most up-voted comments seem absurd. What’s the president gonna get by killing Koreans?? I’m just curious, seriously. If you wanna say that crap then make sure it’s perfect, Ha! ke ke ke There are a lot of morons on Nate.
강상용:
I’m worried that there’re too many spies in the South.
손종완:
Ah, Hankyoreh, again? Oh I’m so sick of this.. When is it gonna stop this nonsense? They said it was a collision with a rock, and then ‘mistake bombing’ by our own military force… Now what, our abandoned mines? I heard the North Koreans are treating those culprits of the incident like heroes. Are they faking fucking hard that they have nothing to do with it? Mmm. I wonder what might be the next excuse. Since relations between Korea and Japan are deteriorating, Japanese submergence vehicle might be a suitable candidate.
이원향:
Does North Korea deserve the blame? The blame should go to corrupted scientists who try to cover 99% of truth with the 1% of possibility.
임진영:
Hankyoreh really needs to stop breaking this nation apart. It’s absurd to blame the North whilst claiming that the Navy blew up its own people and ship. Does this makes sense for you? Seriously, you leftists have got to stop this.
김형훈:
I guess we’re gonna see more of this type of research coming up, embarrassing the whole nation. a-hyu how classy is that.
유진원:
It didn’t smell like explosives; there weren’t any water pillars; we haven’t found shrapnel; no single sand lance was killed at the scene; those who were actually killed didn’t seem to have severe external injuries; the survivors have their eardrums intact, as were fluorescent lights on the ship. Explosion? Explosion in my ass! There’s plenty of evidences to prove it ran aground on a rock.
박성호:
Oh Hankyoreh, you’re so predictable. Aren’t you gonna stop publishing?
이종석:
You just don’t give up, do you? D you not get tired of saying this crap?? Now it’s our abandoned mines.. Oh please tsk tsk tsk.. Rock collision sounded more convincing.
김윤경:
Science can’t explain what happened to the Cheonan but conservative newpapers, the Saenuri party, and the government can! We’ll see how long the government’s claims persist once this administration’s over!!
천진영:
Oh Hankyoreh hasn’t given up on this case ke ke ke Fighting Hankyoreh ke ke ke Cheer up! ke ke ke The commies lost their upper hand so they’re playing same-old Cheonan conspiracy card again. ke ke ke ke
