LiveWire

A post by Maynard

The sinking of a South Korean warship by a North Korean submarine has been played down in the media. At some level this is understandable. To acknowledge the incident properly is to acknowledge a war in progress, and a big war at that. Maybe if we close our eyes, it will all go away. Or at least the “peace” scenario may be less unpleasant than war would be. And even if a war were to be easily won, the aftermath of victory would leave South Korea and China to deal with a collapsed North Korea and an entire nation full of starving brainwashed lunatics. Yes, I can see why an option short of war is sought.

Anyway, here are details from The Economist:

Whoever failed to erase the words “Number One” in blue Korean script etched inside the propulsion shaft of a deadly torpedo may well be in deep trouble in Pyongyang. On May 15th a ship dredging the site of the attack on a South Korean warship in March that killed 46 seamen made a spectacular find: propellers, motors and a steering section that international investigators say “perfectly match” those of a CHT-02D torpedo that North Korea sells abroad. What’s more, the blue marking was similar to one on a previously captured North Korean torpedo. This was as close to a smoking gun as the South Koreans could have hoped to find.

The discovery, combined with intelligence reports indicating North Korean submarines were out of port during the attack, allowed the investigators to conclude on May 20th that the Cheonan “was sunk as the result of an external underwater explosion caused by a torpedo made in North Korea.” Or as one person close to the investigation succinctly put it: “It was either the North Koreans, or it was the Martians.”

The article notes that these revelations put the onus on China, since China is North Korea’s biggest lifeline. Until this point, China could shrug off the incident as a mystery. This is no longer a viable excuse.

(I assume The Economist‘s analysis is authoritative; however here is an article from The Korea Times suggesting that the “smoking gun” discovery still leaves open questions. But then, there’s always another theory…)

As an aside, keep in mind that the mad regime of North Korea is entirely the creation of China, which sent its army to fight America in the Korean War after the Korean Communists had lost. If not for that, all of Korea would be what South Korea is today. The tragedy of an Executive Branch apologizing to China for Arizona, considering the context of China’s blood-soaked recent history, is ludicrous beyond belief.