Cheonan (PCC-772)

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Cheonan (PCC-772)
( 천안 )
Pohang class
The Cheonan a few days before the torpedo attack in 2010
The Cheonan a few days before the torpedo attack in 2010
Overview
Type corvette
Shipyard

Korea Tacoma Marine Industries Ltd., Masan

Launch January 1989
Namesake Cheonan city
Commissioning 1989
Whereabouts sunk March 26, 2010, later recovered
Technical specifications
See: Pohang class
Identifier

PCC-772

The Corvette Sinseong , a sister ship of the Cheonan

The Cheonan (PCC-772) ( 천안 ) was a Corvette of Pohang class . She entered service with the South Korean Navy in 1989 . The task of the ship consisted of coastal defense with a focus on anti -submarine hunting , but also against aircraft and ships.

history

The ship was launched at Tacoma Marine Industries in January 1989 and entered service in the same year. In 1999 the Cheonan was involved in the first incident at Yeonpyeong . It should be decommissioned in 2019.

Downfall

Map with Baengnyeongdo Island (red)
The Northern Limit Line (NLL) maritime demarcation line between North Korea and South Korea was created by US-led United Nations forces and is not part of the 1953 ceasefire agreement

On March 26, 2010, the Cheonan sank in South Korean waters, about one nautical mile (approx. 1.9 km) southwest of Baengnyeongdo Island in the Yellow Sea , under initially unexplained circumstances. Immediately after the accident, reports were denied that the ship had been hit by a torpedo; the government of North Korea denied involvement.

Rescue activities and recovery

Immediately after the sinking, the South Korean armed forces began a rescue operation. 58 of the 104 crew members were rescued; Navy divers recovered two bodies shortly after the sinking. Three days later there were a total of 22 ships of the South Korean Navy and Coast Guard as well as the United States Navy (the USS Lassen (DDG-82) , USS Curtis Wilbur (DDG-54) , USS Shiloh (CG-67) and USNS Salvor (T-ARS -52) ) was busy looking for the rest of the crew and guarding the wreck.

On April 15, 2010, the rear part of the shipwreck, which contained 36 bodies, was lifted. On April 24th, the bow was also recovered by a floating crane .

examination

The South Korean military initially claimed to have registered a North Korean ship nearby. However, the alleged ship turned out to be a flock of birds. Paik Jeom-Ki , a shipbuilding professor at Busan University , suspected that the ship had run aground.

The South Korean commission of inquiry named the pressure wave or gas bubble caused by a torpedo or sea ​​mine explosion as a possible cause . The South Korean Defense Minister Kim Tae-young assumed a torpedo. The investigations focused on the search for torpedo remains. First, South Korea stated that traces of gunpowder had been found on the wreckage, which indicates a primitive missile from North Korea. However, this claim was later revised by the Commission of Inquiry. Traces of the explosive RDX , which is used in mines and above all in torpedoes, were found at the site of the explosion .

On May 20, 2010, the Joint Civilian-Military Investigation Group (JIG) , consisting of representatives from South Korea, the United States, Great Britain, Sweden and Australia (apart from Sweden, all states that are formally up to this day with North Korea are at war) the result of their research. The Multinational Combined Intelligence Task Force , made up of personnel from the United States, Australia, Canada and Great Britain, provided support for the investigation from May 5th . Accordingly, the Cheonan was sunk by a North Korean torpedo of the type CHT-02D (export version) by a hit three meters to the left of the engine room. The commission presented the remains of the torpedo used, which were found at the place where the Cheonan sank . Parts of it were marked with 1 번 in Korean script ( German no. 1) and, according to experts, come from North Korea. South Korean investigators have since admitted that the drawing of another torpedo was mistakenly shown during the press conference on May 20, 2010 .

Other reports indicated that the incident occurred in a zone highly militarized by the United States and South Korea, that numerous American warships were in close proximity, and that a North Korean submarine could not have approached the Cheonan undetected, and that the damage to the ship could not have resulted from a torpedo hit.

The Chinese government rejected the American-South Korean account of the events as implausible after an independent technical assessment by experts from the Chinese military.

A Russian investigative group also came to South Korea to conduct an independent investigation into the incident. According to the Russian view, some facts speak against the theory spread by the South Korean government. With the ambiguous hint that it is not now time to find the cause of this incident, Russia has announced that it will not hand over its investigation report to North or South Korea.

The civil investigator Shin Sang-cheol, proposed by the Minju Party ( 민주당 , Democratic Party) of South Korea, who also runs a political website, was expelled from the commission by the South Korean parliament during the investigation . He reported that he found no evidence of the alleged torpedo explosion and that the crew had reported by radio to Naval Headquarters and the Coast Guard that the ship had run aground. Shin stated that the alleged evidence had been tampered with. The public prosecutor's office then investigated him "for spreading false rumors". Park Sun-won, former National Security Advisor to former President Roh Moo-hyun , was also investigated. This has been criticized in the South Korean media in part as an attempt to suppress dissenting opinions.

The North Korean government asked the UN Security Council to conduct an independent investigation into the incident and offered to participate. However, South Korea and the US declined further investigation.

Reactions

Political reactions

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak announced in a televised address on May 24, 2010 a trade freeze, a passage ban for North Korean ships and the involvement of the United Nations Security Council.

In response, North Korea put its troops in combat readiness on May 20, 2010, as announced on May 25 by the North Korean dissident organization North Korea Intellectual Solidarity (NKIS).

In early June 2010, South Korea called the Security Council on this matter. However, there was no official UN resolution. Instead, the UN Security Council called on the two Korean states on June 15, 2010 not to worsen the situation any further.

On June 27, 2010, the heads of state of the G-8 countries passed a statement condemning the demise of the Cheonan . In the South Korean (and in some cases other international) media, this was presented as a condemnation of North Korea. In fact, North Korea was not mentioned at all in the G-8 statement.

On July 9, the Security Council condemned the attack on the Cheonan .

From July 25, 2010, a four-day joint naval exercise between the United States and South Korea took place in the Sea of Japan. About 20 warships took part, including the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS George Washington . The maneuver is a demonstration of strength against North Korea. The “Invincible Spirit” maneuver was originally intended to take place in the Yellow Sea, but was moved to the Sea of ​​Japan due to Chinese protests.

North Korea called the maneuver a provocation and announced countermeasures and a further expansion of its nuclear deterrent.

Economic reactions

Two companies, including Prettl , which was the first German company in the Kaesŏng special economic zone to be busy building a production facility, decided to leave the site after the incident.

Web links

Commons : Cheonan (PCC-772)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ John Pike: Pohang (PCC Patrol Combat Corvette) Ships Specification. GlobalSecurity.org, February 3, 2010, accessed May 14, 2010 .
  2. ^ Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung : Seoul: North Korea not involved , March 27, 2010
  3. ↑ a b Torpedo likely sank S. Korean ship , CBCNews, April 25, 2010
  4. ↑ a b Rasika Sanjeewa Weerawickrama: Sinking of the ROKS Cheonan Korean naval vessel in the Yellow Sea of Pacific Ocean . Asian Human Rights Commission , June 15, 2010.
  5. ↑ South Korea hunts for clues to warship disaster . ( Memento from February 23, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) AFP , April 1, 2010.
  6. ↑ Cheonan Probe Focuses on Torpedo Debris , chosun.com, April 26, 2010
  7. ↑ a b c d Yoichi Shimatsu: Did an American Mine Sink South Korean Ship? ( June 23, 2010 memento on the Internet Archive ), New America Media , March 27, 2010.
  8. ↑ Tagesschau : North Korea allegedly torpedoed “Cheonan” ( memento from May 23, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) , May 20, 2010
  9. ↑ Kim Deok-hyun: Investigators admit using wrong blueprint to show N. Korean torpedo that attacked Cheonan. Yonhap News, June 20, 2010, accessed September 3, 2010 .
  10. ↑ Kim Myong Chol: Pyongyang sees US role in Cheonan sinking. Asia Times , May 5, 2010.
  11. ↑ Russian report feeds doubts on the torpedo thesis. der Standard, August 9, 2010, accessed September 3, 2010 .
  12. ↑ Russia won't hand over Cheonan report to S Korea. The Korea Times, September 22, 2010, accessed September 24, 2010 .
  13. ↑ : Matthew Reiss was Jeju islanders want love, not , Asia Times , June 30, 2010
  14. ↑ Ser Myo-ja : Probe member summoned on false rumor allegations . JoongAng Ilbo , May 29, 2010, archived from the original on September 10, 2012 ; accessed on April 22, 2018 (English, original website no longer available).
  15. ^ Punishment of Cheonan opinions contrary to government must stop . Hankyoreh , May 26, 2010 (English)
  16. ^ Louis Charbonneau: North Korea urges UN council to back new Cheonan probe . Reuters , June 30, 2010 (English)
  17. ↑ Seoul wants to bring shipping tragedy to the UN ( Memento from May 28, 2010 in the Internet Archive ), sueddeutsche.de, May 24, 2010
  18. ↑ Spiegel Online : Dispute over sunk warship: North Korea puts troops in readiness for combat , May 25, 2010
  19. ↑ G8 condemns N. Korea's sinking of the Cheonan. KBS WORLD, June 27, 2010, accessed June 27, 2010 .
  20. ↑ Security Council condemns attack on Republic of Korea Naval Ship Cheonan '. un.org, July 9, 2010, accessed March 31, 2014 (Security Council 6355th Meeting).
  21. ↑ USA and South Korea announce joint maneuvers , in: Spiegel Online, July 20, 2010.
  22. ↑ a b Maneuvers fuel the Korean crisis , in: Neues Deutschland , July 26, 2012.
  23. ↑ Andreas Lorenz: Maneuver in the forbidden zone , in: Spiegel Online, July 24, 2010.
  24. ↑ Shi Ming: Heavy maneuver criticism from Beijing , in: dw-world.de, July 24, 2010.
  25. ↑ North Korea threatens war , in: sueddeutsche.de, July 25, 2010.
  26. ^ Prettl produced in North Korea , Handelsblatt dated November 2, 2007
  27. ^ Economic newsletter Korea . (PDF 153 kB) German-Korean Chamber of Commerce and Industry , May 20, 2010, archived from the original on May 24, 2011 ; accessed on April 22, 2018 (English, original website no longer available).