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S. Korea: Cheonan's Bow Salvaged

The attack on the 1,220-ton Cheonan, which sank on March 26 with the loss of 46 of its 104 crew, was carried out in retaliation for a skirmish between warships of the two nations' navies in November of last year, South Korea claims. The South Korean government has refused to comment officially on the reports but Defence Minister Kim Tae Young told a parliamentary session that the military believed that the sinking was a deliberate act by North Korea. Officials in military intelligence say they warned the government earlier this year that North Korea was preparing a suicide-squad submarine attack...

ABOARD THE USNS SALVOR, Yellow Sea — Clear skies and a billowing sea Saturday were not telling of what was beneath the surface: brutally strong currents, frigid temperatures, and water so murky that divers would barely be able see in front of them if they had to go in. Those conditions, U.S. Navy divers and officials aboard this rescue and salvage ship said, are expected to persist and will make salvaging the wreckage of the South Korean patrol ship Cheonan that mysteriously sank more than a week ago unusually difficult. “This is a very challenging dive scene,” said Capt. Charlie...

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.

SPECIALIST frogmen are to dive to the wreck of a South Korean frigate sunk by a mysterious explosion as the country’s rattled government tries to find out why the vessel was lost. The 1,200-tonne warship Cheonan went down amid a string of islands in waters bitterly contested by North Korea. But security officials in Seoul, the South Korean capital, said there was no evidence that the North was to blame. Financial markets shook when the news first reached the United States, which deploys more than 70,000 military personnel plus large air and sea forces to protect South Korea and Japan...