What the rest of the free world has known for some time is finally coming out of South Korea, North Korean subs attacked and sank the Cheonan. It appears the suspicions that South Korea knew the attack was perpetrated by North Korea but is merely stalling to figure out how to respond diplomatically at having a new modern warship destroyed.

South Korea’s military is increasingly confident that a North Korea submarine was involved in the explosion and sinking of a South Korean warship that has left 38 dead and eight missing.
The 1,200-ton navy corvette, the Cheonan, was ripped apart on March 26 during a routine patrol near the tense border with North Korea. It was “most likely to be attacked by either a mine or a torpedo from a North Korean submarine,” a military official said.
South Korean Navy corvette Cheonan sails during a naval operation on the sea March 23, just three days before it sank off Baengnyeongdo, an island near the maritime border with North Korea. Reuters/South Korean Navy

State investigators, after an initial examination of wreckage on April 15 off Baeknyeong Island, concluded that an unidentified “external explosion” caused the sinking, saying the hull and iron sheets on the severed side were curved inward.
They ruled out any possibility that the ship had struck a rock or had exploded from within, deepening suspicions of a torpedo or sea mine explosion.
“No complete examination of the severed part of the stern has been done yet, but from what we have discovered so far, we believe that an external explosion most likely occurred as a result of a torpedo or a sea mine attack below the ship,” the official said.
The ship appeared torn apart by a so-called “bubble jet effect,” a powerful water pillar created when a torpedo or sea mine blows up under water near a ship without striking it, investigators said. Such a pillar, created by pressure differences, is so powerful that it can tear a ship apart.
“As the ship was also halved in the middle, it is highly likely that a torpedo fired from a submarine or mine destroyed the ship,” military expert and former submarine captain Jung Sung said.
Rep. Kim Hak-Song, chairman of the parliamentary defense committee, boosted suspicions of a submarine attack when he said that two North Korean Shark-class submarines that had been under surveillance near the border disappeared between March 23 and 27. Officials have been unable to determine the location of one of them on March 26, the day of the explosion. The lawmaker cited a briefing by the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Defense Minister Kim Tae-Young acknowledged his military lost track of North Korean submarines that patrol just north of the disputed maritime border.
North Korea has a frontline submarine base on the west coast, just 80 kilometers from South Korea’s northernmost Baeknyeong Island. The communist country has 80 submarines, including a 325-ton Shark-class submarine that ranks between a full-blown submarine and a mini-sub in terms of size.
“We can detect most of them by constantly tracking their whereabouts, but it’s impossible to detect all of their movements in all weathers,” the defense chief said.
The military believes a North Korean submarine could have approached from southern waters by detouring through open seas west of Baeknyeong Island to avoid the South’s radar and other surveillance equipment.
Choi Sung-Yong, who heads the Family Assembly Abducted to North Korea, said a senior North Korean army officer reported by telephone that the North Korean military had attacked the South’s corvette. Choi gave authorities a transcript of the conversation.
But investigators said there is no definitive evidence yet of North Korean involvement, warning “a hasty conclusion could worsen the situation.”
South Korea has set up a 69-member investigation team that will eventually include 15 U.S. and other foreign experts in a bid to ensure that eventual findings cannot be disputed. The participation of foreign experts on the team is also aimed at making the incident an international issue leading to UN sanctions should the North be implicated.
South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak, making a tearful address to the nation on April 19, vowed to deal “resolutely and unwaveringly” with the outcome of the investigation. “As the president, I will ascertain the cause of the Cheonan vessel’s sinking to the last detail,” he said in a live broadcast. “I will deal resolutely with the results and make sure such an incident does not recur.”
North Korea on April 17 denied any involvement and accused the conservative South Korean government of seeking to shift the blame in order to justify its hard-line policy against the North.
“The South’s puppet military and right-wing conservative politicians are now making a foolish attempt to link the tragedy to us,” the state run KCNA reported. “The reason that the South’s puppets are claiming the North’s involvement is also linked to their foolish efforts to put pressure on us, even by stirring up international opinion in favor of sanctions,” it said.