South Korea on alert after ship sinking
South Korea's president ordered the military on alert today after the defence minister said the explosion and sinking of a ship may have been caused by a North Korean mine.
The blast ripped the 1,200-ton Cheonan apart on Friday night during a routine patrol mission near Baengnyeong Island, along the tense maritime border west of the Korean peninsula.
Fifty-eight crew members, including the captain, were plucked to safety and 46 remain missing with hopes fading for any further survivors.
The joint chiefs of staff said the exact cause was unclear and US and South Korean officials said there was no outward indication of North Korean involvement.
But defence minister Kim Tae-young told MPs yesterday that a floating mine dispatched from North Korea was one of several scenarios for the disaster.
"Neither the government nor the defence ministry has ever said there was no possibility of North Korea's involvement," Mr Kim said.
The two Koreas remain in a state of war because their three-year conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty, in 1953. North Korea disputes the sea border drawn by the United Nations in 1953 and the western waters near the spot where the Cheonan went down have been the site of three bloody skirmishes between North and South.
"Since the sinking took place at the front line, the military should thoroughly prepare for any move by North Korea," President Lee Myung-bak told his Cabinet, according to his spokesman Park Sun-kyoo. "I want the military to maintain its readiness."
The joint chiefs of staff said the cause of the blast may remain unclear until the ship is salvaged after the rescue operation is over.
Any navy crewmen who managed to seal themselves inside their watertight cabins would have run out of air by yesterday since the supply of oxygen in the cabins was estimated to last up to 69 hours, military officials said.
Hampered by rough waves, divers finally reached the ship's rear segment, where most of the missing were believed trapped, and pumped oxygen into cracks in the stern yesterday, said the joint chiefs of staff. They hammered on the hull but got no response.
Military divers were gearing up to break into the ship, Rear Adm Lee Ki-sik said.
"The fate of the 46 young soldiers defending our territory in the border area is still unknown," President Lee said. "I cannot describe how regrettable this is. Let's not give up hope until the last moment."
The disaster is one of South Korea's worst. Mr Kim said yesterday that the ship may have struck a mine left over from the war or deliberately dispatched from the North.
Many of the 3,000 Soviet-made naval mines North Korea planted in the waters off both coasts during the war were removed, but not all. Mr Kim noted a North Korean mine was discovered as recently as 1984.
"North Korea may have intentionally floated underwater mines to inflict damage on us," he told MPs.
He insisted there were no South Korean mines off the west coast and ruled out a torpedo attack from North Korea, which would have been spotted by radar.
Officials have also said an internal malfunction may be to blame. The Cheonan is designed to carry weapons and was involved in a previous skirmish with North Korea.
Pyongyang's state media have made no mention of the ship.
