Free Republic

'N.Korean Officer' Says North Sank the Cheonan A North Korean Army officer has testified that the North Korean military attacked the South Korean Navy corvette Cheonan before it sank in the West Sea on March 26, the head of a South Korean activist group claimed Monday. Choi Sung-yong of the Family Assembly Abducted to North Korea said, "It seems that the Cheonan was sunk in a premeditated North Korean operation." Choi published a transcript of a telephone conversation with what he says is a senior North Korean Army officer. According to the transcript, the officer says, "Thirteen commandos who left...

The military will draw up a new operational plan for the Yellow Sea after its existing one was leaked in the wake of the sinking of a naval vessel late last month. A military official said yesterday that the Navy cannot conduct missions with the existing plan because it and other military secrets have been leaked to North Korea since the sinking. “We have re-designated the operational zone of naval patrol ships to cope with the North’s coastal artillery since last year’s (inter-Korean) naval clash,” the official said. “In particular, we find it inevitable to review the operation of monitoring...

SEOUL, April 19 (Yonhap) -- President Lee Myung-bak pledged Monday to take "resolute" measures against those responsible for the sinking of a South Korean naval ship last month as he consoled the nation over one the country's worst naval disasters. "As the president, I will ascertain the cause of the Cheonan's sinking to the last detail," he said in his address broadcast live. "I will deal resolutely with the results and make sure such an incident does not recur."

Salvage crews have raised the stern or rear portion of a South Korean Navy ship that mysteriously sunk in the Yellow Sea on March 26th. The bodies of 36 crew members were also recovered. Initial reports suggested a North Korean torpedo may have been responsible. But just as tensions between the two rivals were escalating, the cause of the incident became murkier. What is clear is some sort of explosion caused the Cheonan to split in two and then sink. Many of the crew members were rescued by South Korean ships that rushed to the scene, but at least 44...

South Korean investigators have all but ruled out an on-board accident or collision with rocks as the cause of a navy ship's sinking. The government is still treating the matter delicately, as suspicions remain that North Korea was involved in the sinking. A multinational investigative team said Friday that the South Korean naval corvette, the Cheonan, split in half and sank earlier this month due to force applied from outside the ship. Yoon says fragments of the hull are bent inward, showing that the explosive force came from the outside. He adds the likeliest possible causes of an onboard accident...

(LEAD) S. Korea moves sunken ship's rear closer to coast SEOUL, April 12 (Yonhap) -- Workers moved the rear part of a sunken naval vessel closer to the coast Monday, as high wind and waves were feared to further complicate ongoing operations to salvage the warship that sank near the sea border with North Korea last month, military and private salvage company officials said. A team of military and civilian divers has been battling strong currents in the Yellow Sea for more than a week to hoist up the 1,200-ton corvette Cheonan that was torn in two by a mysterious...

Torpedo Attack Likeliest Cause of Shipwreck Military authorities believe that a strong external shock was the reason for the sinking of the Navy corvette Cheonan, on March 26, with a torpedo, mine or depth charge the most likely to generate enough impact. The most likely suspect is a torpedo. â—† Torpedo, Mine or Depth Charge? Torpedoes and mines attack from under the surface of the ocean, while depth charges are thrown into the water from airplanes or ships to hit submarines. Torpedoes travel between 60 km/h to 70 km/h powered by propellers and can hit targets that are between hundreds...

President Lee Myung-bak stressed Monday that his government will not rush through its investigation into the recent sinking of a Navy ship at the expense of "accuracy," especially given the international community's keen attention to the incident. "Given the examples of disasters in various advanced nations, accuracy is more important than speed in determining the cause of this kind of big incident," Lee said in his biweekly radio address. He asked the people to "wait patiently, although it will be painful, as a joint investigation team from the government, military, and civilian sector is already conducting an on-site investigation." The...

Immediately after an explosion that caused the 1,200-ton corvette Cheonan to sink in waters near the de-facto maritime border with North Korea on March 26, the Captain sent out a message to the Second Navy Fleet Command, saying, "We are being attacked by the enemy." A military source on Thursday said Captain Choi Won-il sent the message using his mobile phone, according to analysis of communications records. Choi sent the report after confirming that the stern had broken off following the explosion around 9:25 p.m. It is not clear how much information he had at the time.

The National Assembly's Defense Committee on Wednesday passed a resolution accusing North Korea of torpedoing the South Korean Navy corvette Cheonan. It took 89 days since the ship sank in the West Sea on March 26. Both the U.S. Congress and European Parliament were quicker to react by passing relevant resolutions on May 14 at the Senate and May 26 at the House of Representatives and on June 17 in Strasbourg. The resolution is now expected to pass a full session of the National Assembly on June 28. The main opposition Democratic Party is expected to make no attempt to...

PYEONGTAEK, South Korea — Investigators let media have a look at the wreckage of the Cheonan on Wednesday, the day before South Korea was to formally announce that a North Korea torpedo sank the South Korean patrol ship. The wreckage of the March 26 sinking was retrieved from the Yellow Sea near the maritime border between the two Koreas and hauled to South Korea’s Second Fleet Command base in Pyeongtaek. Yoon Duk-yong, an investigator with the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, told reporters Wednesday that evidence from the recovered pieces of the ship points to a torpedo attack....

An "external explosion" is likely to have caused a South Korean naval ship to sink near the sea border with North Korea, a chief investigator said Friday after experts examined the ship's wreckage retrieved a day earlier. "Rather than an internal explosion, the possibility of an external explosion is very high," said Yoon Duk-yong, co-head of the state investigation team looking into the March 26 sinking of the 1,200-ton patrol ship Cheonan. "But for a final conclusion, it is necessary to make a detailed analysis while leaving all possibilities open." Yoon, a renowned scientist named to lead the investigation along...

Military authorities on Tuesday revealed video footage showing the moment the Navy corvette Cheonan sank in the West Sea last Friday. The one-minute-20-second clip was filmed by a marine stationed on nearby Baeknyeong Island using a thermal observation device. This makes it possible to observe objects at night by detecting temperature differences. The clip shows the moment the bow of the Cheonan started to sink with the stern already broken off three minutes after an explosion broke the ship in two on March 26 and a naval fleet of high-speed boats approached the sinking ship at 9:56 p.m. In the...

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - South Korean authorities stepped up searches for 46 sailors still missing Saturday, hours after a naval ship sank near a disputed sea border with North Korea.Navy and coast guard vessels, as well as air force planes, were searching the waters near South Korea's Baeknyeong Island where the 1,200-ton Cheonan sank during a routine patrolling mission. The Joint Chiefs of Staff said rescuers had picked up 58 sailors but 46 still were missing. President Lee Myung-bak ordered officials to find the cause of the sinking quickly while keeping in mind all possibilities, presidential spokeswoman Kim Eun-hye...

(LEAD) N. Korea threatens to apply 'wartime laws' on detained U.S. national By Sam Kim SEOUL, June 24 (Yonhap) -- North Korea threatened Thursday to apply "wartime laws" on a U.S. national it is holding, citing what it called U.S. hostilities against the communist country over the sinking of a South Korean warship. Earlier this year, a North Korean court sentenced Aijalon Gomes, a 30-year-old American, to eight years in a labor camp for illegal entry on Jan. 25. The communist state's official Korean Central News Agency said its authorities are considering additional measures against Gomes "from the perspective of...

May 16, 2013 Column One: Obama and the ‘official truth’ Caroline B. Glick Nakoula Basseley Nakoula has been sitting in a US federal prison in Texas since his photographed midnight arrest by half a dozen deputy sheriffs at his home in California for violating the terms of his parole. As many reporters have noted, the parole violation in question would not generally lead to anything more than a court hearing. But in Nakoula’s case, it led to a year in a federal penitentiary. Because he wasn’t really arrested for violating the terms of his parole. Nakoula was arrested for producing...

Hodgkinson had a history of violence that did not rise to the level to prohibit him from legally owning a firearm. He was the foster father of at least two girls. The first, Wanda Ashley Stock, 17, committed suicide in 1996 by pouring gasoline on herself and setting herself on fire after a few months of living with the Hodgkinsons, the Belleville News-Democrat reports. The Hodgkinsons gave an interview to the paper after her suicide, calling her a “very practical, level-headed girl.”

Rep. Dave Reichert, R-Auburn, was treated for a subdural hematoma, apparently due to a minor head injury, after being admitted to a Washington, D.C., hospital on Wednesday. His office said Reichert was admitted to George Washington University Hospital after feeling ill. Following an evaluation, doctors performed a procedure to treat a chronic subdural hematoma — collection of blood on the surface of the brain — that was likely the result of a minor head injury. The procedure was successful, and Reichert is expected to make a complete recovery, his office said. He's expected to be discharged in a few days.

An award-winning Iranian nuclear scientist, who disappeared last year under mysterious circumstances, has defected to the CIA and been resettled in the United States, according to people briefed on the operation by intelligence officials. Shahram Amiri, a nuclear physicist in his early 30s, went missing last June three days after arriving in Saudi Arabia on a pilgrimage, according to the Iranian government. The officials were said to have termed the defection of the scientist, Shahram Amiri, "an intelligence coup" in the continuing CIA operation to spy on and undermine Iran's nuclear program. A spokesperson for the CIA declined to comment....