A survivor from the sunken naval patrol ship Cheonan on Saturday raised the possibility of the 1,200-ton vessel sinking due to an attack from an outside force.
“There is no possibility whatsoever that the ship sank due to an internal explosion or a collision with a reef. I guarantee that,” a navy lieutenant was quoted as saying by participants in a briefing session organized by the Navy’s Second Fleet Command in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province -- the home port of the ill-fated ship.
“Another cause could be an attack from an outside force and that is not exact as of yet. The military is currently conducting an investigation and I am not in a position to comment on that,” he added.
About 300 relatives of the 46 missing sailors from the sunken ship attended the session, which was not open to the press. The vessel sank in waters near the western maritime border with North Korea at around 9:45 p.m. on Friday after an explosion ripped a hole in the rear bottom of the ship.
Some burst into tears and screamed when a survivor described the sinking of the boat with its 104 crew members aboard.
Fifty-eight sailors have so far been rescued. Thirteen of them suffered injuries and are now being treated at hospitals. No one is in critical condition, officials said.
In another briefing session held in the afternoon, commander Choi Won-il, who led the sunken ship, said the explosion appears to have been caused by “internal or external shocks.”
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“The exact cause of the explosion can be verified after the ship is salvaged and a thorough investigation is carried out,” he said. “The ship was broken into two parts and the rear of the ship abruptly sank. I tried my best to rescue my soldiers and I feel sorry that I came alive alone.”
The Second Fleet Command said that it would take some representing families of the missing soldiers to the scene of the incident aboard a Navy ship on Sunday.
During an emergency session of the National Assembly’s defense committee, Lee Gi-sik, chief of the Defense Ministry’s intelligence operations, said that captain Choi reported the situation to the chief of naval operations with his mobile phone right before the ship sank.
“All electricity was cut off at the time so the captain reported the situation with his cell phone,” Lee said.
“There was a big detonation and the engine stopped and the electricity was cut off. I went up to the deck and couldn’t see the stern of the ship there. All happened within two minutes,” the captain was quoted as saying by Rep. Kim Hak-song of the ruling Grand National Party who chairs the committee.
Some reports earlier said that the government presumes that the possibility of North Korea’s involvement in the incident is low.
According to them, as the Northern Limit Line, which serves as a de facto sea border, is about 10-12 kilometers away from where the ship sank, a North Korean warship’s infiltration would have been easily revealed. They added that the waters where the ship sank were relatively shallow, meaning the operation of a North Korean warship would be difficult.
The U.S. forces in Korea are also said to presume that the possibility of North Korea’s involvement is low as there were no suspicious activities or movements detected before and after the ship sank.
“The exact cause of the incident has yet to be verified, but if we sum up investigations conducted by related ministries, the North does not appear to be involved in the incident,” a government source was quoted by Yonhap News as saying.
“Currently, the Navy has dispatched its Underwater Demolition Team to the scene of the incident to investigate the incident and rescue survivors. So we cautiously reckon that the cause, though roughly, would be verified sooner or later.”
The North has so far remained silent on the incident. When skirmishes occurred in 1999, 2002 and last year in the waters near the NLL, the North made official comments blaming the South within hours.
The North does not recognize the NLL, as it was unilaterally drawn by the U.S.-led U.N. command at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.
President Lee Myung-bak convened the emergency meeting of security ministers twice on Saturday, calling for the speedy rescue of survivors and prompt verification of the cause of the incident.
Defense Minister Kim Tae-young said that a 3,000-ton naval ship will be deployed to the scene for the rescue operations on Sunday.
“Without a rescue ship, there are limitations in carrying out the rescue operations under the bad weather conditions. With the deployment of the ship, the rescue efforts will pick up speed,” he told reporters.
The military on Saturday sought to begin the work to ascertain how the ship sank along with the operations to rescue the survivors, but the work failed to proceed due to adverse weather conditions.
In the afternoon, the Navy dispatched 18 divers of its Ship Salvage Unit to search survivors and check the hole on the bottom of the ship. But they could not dive into the waters due to high waves. As the day waned, the search operations could begin on Sunday, officials said.

By Song Sang-ho (sshluck@heraldcorp.com)