Hopes Fading for Survivors
Defense Minister Kim Tae-young cautiously raised the possibility that the ill-fated Cheonan may have hit a sea mine laid by North Korea.
Kim made the remark at a session of the National Assembly Defense Committee.
He said, ``North Korea's sea mines might have been floating in our territorial waters.'' However, Kim refused to comment on whether the mines had been placed by the North intentionally or had drifted into South Korean waters.
He rejected the possibility of a blast caused by South Korean mines. The minister also played down the possibility of a torpedo attack.
North Korea bought about 4,000 sea mines from the Soviet Union during the Korean War and was believed to have laid about 3,000 of them both in the eastern and western waters of the Korean Peninsula, Kim noted.
``Almost all mines were removed, but not 100 percent,'' he said. ``A North Korean mine was found (in South Korean waters) in 1984 and another was removed in 1995.''
Rescue workers confirmed the location of the stern of the downed frigate Cheonan, which split in two after an unexplained explosion, Friday.
The location of the wreckage came after two days of search-and-rescue (SAR) efforts near the western sea border with North Korea, the Ministry of National Defense said Monday.
Most of the 46 missing sailors are believed to have been in the rear part of the ship when the 1,200-ton ship was destroyed and sank 1.8 kilometers southwest of Baengnyeong Island near the Northern Limit Line (NLL).
A day earlier, the Navy's salvage team confirmed the location of the bow of the vessel, which was carrying crew of 104. Fifty-eight sailors, including the captain, were rescued from one of the country's worst sea disasters, but the remainder are still ``missing in action.''
It is possible that some missing sailors could have survived in air-pockets inside the ship, although the water in the West Sea is about 4 degrees Celsius.
Early in the day, about 100 South Korean and U.S. divers began operations and succeeded in reaching the stern of the ship, which was about 50 meters from where the ship went down and about 40 meters underwater.
The divers tied a loop of rope around the deck on the stern, ministry officials said.
``We are expecting to see some positive results as the rest of the body of the ship has been found,'' Rear Adm. Lee Ki-shik at the Joint Chiefs of Staff told reporters. ``We'll be sending down underwater cameras and hope that all sailors are still alive.''
President Lee Myung-bak called for speeding up the rescue operation.
``We should use all the manpower and equipment available to rescue the sailors as fast as possible,'' Lee was quoted by his spokeswoman Kim Eun-hye as saying, after receiving an emergency briefing from his top aides.
The President stressed rescuers ``should not give up hope for more survivors.''
At a National Assembly committee session, Defense Minister Kim Tae-young said, however, he believes the possibility of survivors is low given the amount of time that has passed since the accident occurred.
Full-fledged SAR operations by civilian divers as well as South Korean and U.S. salvage specialists are underway, the minister said.
About 20 South Korean vessels, including the 3,000-ton Gwangyang rescue ship and two minesweepers, have been conducting efforts to reach possible survivors.
The Japan-based U.S. 7th Fleet dispatched a 3,000-ton rescue ship to the site, and 15 U.S. divers are supporting the operations, Kim said.
The cause of the explosion on the ship remains unclear.
Several possibilities have been suggested: an accidental onboard explosion, a blast caused by hitting rocks or sea mines planted either by North or South Korea, or a deliberate outside attack, such as by torpedo.
North Korean involvement has been feared, but Cheong Wa Dae and defense authorities have sought to downplay that scenario. U.S. Forces Korea Commander Gen. Walter Sharp also said in a statement that his command didn't detect any indication that the North had been involved.
Noticeably, Minister Kim revealed during the parliamentary session that a North Korean spy plane was scouring the area near the NLL hours after the Cheonan sank.
Some suspect the mission of the plane was related to the accident, but Kim said the aircraft was believed to have been conducting a routine nighttime mission.
The 1,200-ton Cheonan was on a routine patrol mission in western waters when it sank near the island, 16 kilometers from the North Korean coast. The sinking is one of South Korea's worst peacetime naval disasters.
In 1974, a Navy landing ship capsized off the south coast in stormy weather, killing 159 sailors and coast guard personnel.
In 1967, 39 sailors were killed when North Korean shore guns pounded a South Korean Navy ship off the east coast.
The waters in the western sea make up the most volatile section of the inter-Korean border. North Korea rejects the NLL drawn by the United Nations at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.
Fatal naval skirmishes took place there in 1999 and 2002; and in recent months, North Korea has been firing coastal artillery into waters north of the NLL.
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