The whole story of the South Korean government as a false account?
Ronda Hauben 01.06.2010
Blogs and other online media challenge the claims that North Korea is responsible for the sinking of the Cheonan
The South Korean government headed by Lee Myung-bak is trying to dispel criticism that its accusation that North Korea is responsible for the sinking on March 26 of the Cheonan warship is politically motivated and a cover-up or possible false flag operation.
On May 20, the South Korean government presented as uncontestable fact its conclusion that the warship Cheonan split in two and sank because of hostile action by North Korea. Online discussion seriously challenged that presentation. Not coincidently, May 20, the date of the presentation coincided with the date when campaigning for the June 2 provincial and local elections in South Korea was to officially begin.
The military communication logs show that the first message from the Cheonan of trouble said "aground on rocks". The ship, was in shallow waters. Similarly, numerous early statements by both South Korean and US officials assured the public that North Korea was not involved with the incident.
The rescue operation only saved 58 of the crew members. Forty-six of the 104 members of the ship's crew died as a result of the ship's breaking in two and sinking. Public criticism of the Lee government grew regarding how it was handling the ship disaster. A so called international group was charged with the task of assessing blame for the disaster. That Joint Investigation Group (JIG) was under the Korean military.
The Investigation
When the five page investigation statement was presented on May 20, however, North Korea was accused of being the cause of the disaster. The accusation was based on a part of a torpedo allegedly dredged up from the ocean which bore a supposed pen marked number on a rusted surface.
The sinking of the Cheonan occurred during a period when the US military and the South Korean military were conducting joint military exercises named Key Resolve/Foal Eagle. The joint South Korean-U.S. naval action involved several Aegis class warships. The Cheonan was a patrol combat corvette (PCC) specializing in anti-submarine warfare.
The investigation statement claims that somehow an undetected North Korean submarine pierced a highly protected arena of US-South Korean military maneuvers and released a torpedo in shallow waters, and then escaped totally undetected.
A newspaper article in the Korean newspaper Hankyoreh points out the unlikely scenario that "a North Korean submarine (would be able-ed) to infiltrate the maritime cordon at a time when security reached its tightest level and without detection by the Cheonan."
No evidence was presented as to the actual firing of the torpedo or the actual presence of a North Korean submarine in the vicinity of the Cheonan. There is no actual observation of a North Korean submarine in the area of the Cheonan, despite the fact that there was sophisticated surveillance equipment used for the military exercises. Also, the shallowness of the sea where the Cheonan sunk, about 40 to 50 m and the rocky bottom would make submarine travel there almost impossible
The statement of the investigation is unsigned. The parties who allegedly conducted the investigation are unnamed. Instead of facts to document a basis for the accusations, a number of allegations are followed by the statement that "There is no other plausible explanation."
Blogs and other online media
The accusations made by the conservative media in South Korea about North Korea have taken on a James Bond quality given the mismatch between the reality of North Korean capability and the claims being made of how it has been able to perform amazing deeds. Blogs and other online media in both the US and South Korea have presented facts and discussion challenging the claims in the investigation statement, and proposing other alternative explanations of the cause of the sinking of the Cheonan. These online discussions and questions have begun not only to supplement newspaper accounts but also to become the subject of newspaper articles in South Korea.
Questions discussed on blogs included whether there was a North Korean or German made torpedo involved in the sinking of the Cheonan, or whether there was any involvement of a torpedo at all[1]. An online letter addressed to Hillary Clinton by one of the members of the investigation questions whether the marks on the ship came from being run aground or a collision with some other vessel or both.
The whole story of the South Korean government as a false account?
The nature of the pen mark on the torpedo part offered by South Korea as its main evidence that the torpedo was fired by North Korea was challenged as not being a reliable piece of evidence of North Korean involvement because there was rust under the pen mark.
Another blog challenges the whole story of the South Korean government as a false account like the Gulf of Tonkin incident. Some of the Korean netizens and political activists who challenged the South Korean government about the cause of the Cheonan sinking have been referred to the prosecutor for charges.
The South Korean government has been cited by both the Frank La Rue, UN Special Rapporteur for the Promotion and Protection of Freedom of Opinion and Expression and Amnesty International for interfering with the rights of South Korean citizens and netizens.
They need teeth
Given the growing set of questions about the South Korean government account of the sinking of the Cheonan, the government has invited some chosen bloggers and twitter users to a session "to dispel any doubts among the young that North Korea was behind the deadly attack".
A Yonhap News Agency press release explains that it will select 20 twitter users, 10 defense bloggers and 30 college reporters "to take a trip to Pyeongtaek naval port south of Seoul where the salavaged parts of Cheonan are being kept." The article explains that "The event is aimed at removing skepticism among young Internet users who have raised doubts in online communities about the results of a multinational investigation that concluded North Korea downed the ship in a torpedo attack."
Like in the case of 9/11, careful fact checking and examination of the evidence by netizens has shown the South Korean government's case for the involvement of North Korea in the sinking of the Cheonan to be unsustainable. Netizens are more and more able to act as watchdogs. But they need teeth.
original article with LINKS is here:http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/32/32728/1.html
PCC-772 Cheonan: Photographic Evidence that “No. 1″ Written on Top of Rust
by Scott Creighton
The official lie about the sinking of the Cheonan is falling apart so the government is cracking down. “Prime Minister Chung Un-chan ordered the government to come up with a measure to stop the widespread rumors surrounding the Cheonan’s sinking.” Joong Ang Daily, May 29, 2010
My first article is being attacked in the South Korean government supporting press and as a result of the continued pressure from the South Korean people, they are even changing the “official story” since they have to admit the first CHT-O2D torpedo drawing didn’t match the recovered evidence.
A reader has left a comment here linking to images of the “No. 1″ that was written on the torpedo. For many reasons, this is clearly forged evidence. But the reader who linked to a website with actual photographic evidence helps to prove beyond any doubt that someone wrote “No. 1″ on the torpedo part AFTER it was brought out of the water.
(Thanks to all the readers who are diligently helping with this unofficial investigation. The people of South Korea are flooding this site with important comments and links and I thank each one of them.)
Below are official statements made about the forgery of the “No. 1″ writing on the torpedo remains as well as the photographic evidence that it was written on top of rust.
Mr. Shin was one of the investigators assigned to help with the official investigation of the sinking of the Cheonan. He is now being investigated for disagreeing with the “official results“.
Shin said Wednesday in a lecture he titled “Can we trust the Cheonan probe outcome?”
“The magnified photo of the evidence showed that the marking was written on the rusted surface,” he said. “If it were the North who marked it, the marking should have been written on a smooth surface.” Mr. Shin, one of the official investigators from the South Korean official investigation.
This appeared in the Asia Times. It details how “No. 1″ was written in a manner more consistent with South Korea than with North Korea.
The investigation team produced what it termed “conclusive evidence”: the eye-catching hand-written Korean markings “ilbon” or “No 1″ in English found on the propulsion section of the used torpedo allegedly recovered from the sea bed.
This turns out to be most inconclusive and counter-productive, calling into serious question the credibility of the findings. The use of “ilbon” in Korean script – not in Chinese characters – may look like North Korean writing, which is distinctly different from what is written in South Korea.
But native North Koreans use “ilho” for the English “No 1″. “Ilbon” is what South Koreans would use, although North Korean street addresses more often than often not do contain numerals like “ilbon“. Asia Times
Below are the actual images of the writing of “No. 1″ written on the evidence. You can clearly see through the progression that the marker ink was laid on top of some of the rust. You can also see where an area was cleaned prior to the writing.
This is the website the following images came from… they also show how the build-up on the propeller blades could not have occurred in only a month and a half.
Between the investigator’s claim, the discrepancy between what the South Korean version and the North Korean version of “No.1″ is, and these photos showing pitting and rust below the ink of the writing (confirming what the South Korean investigator claims) there is little doubt this “evidence” was fabricated to implicate North Korea.
The sinkng of the S. Korea ship is sad but to blame it on N. Korea is even sader. Maybey S Korea had an accident and want to take advantge of the situation or maybe they really want a war… which ever it is, I am sure Americans want to act on only the truth… Obama doesn’t need a false flag war right now…. it would destroy any credibility he has left…. while he is out golfing, HIlliary is trying to be his master,… it isn’t going to work… of course, maybe she made a mistake also…
maybe she would honor the truth or at least the search for the truth…..
N. Koreans’ lives and S. Korean lives are at stake….
real people…. children and families….
with such evidence as being shown by Willy and the commentators…… someone of power needs to stand up for the truth and be the ‘man of the hour’…..
will it be our President?
I am very much unconvinced by this “evidence”. Its worth proper research and that should have done and the results provided by the official investigation team, that i completely agree with.
But what makes one assume that simple ink magically stops any and all corrosion from occurring below ? Assuming it is actually below the ink. Its also unproven that rust occurred after the explosion, it seems entirely plausible those markings existed much earlier and the number 1 could have been written over it months or years ago.
As for the claim it was cleaned before it was been written on. Where can I see that in those pics? And isnt it possible and logical the area would be cleaned after it was found ?
Sorry, this kind of evidence is as irrefutable as the SK probe evidence. Maybe even less.
All governments lie, all the time, about everything, always and everywhere–always have, always will. If they had to chose between standing where they were and telling an easy truth, or walking across town to tell a complicated lie, they’d take the walk–every time.
When they get smacked across the face with one of their lies, though, and have it shoved back into their mouths, like willyloman has been doing here last couple days, and they can’t worm their way out of it any other way, they always fall back on the old saw that, underneath it all, they’re just protecting our way of life, so–like, if you like sausage, don’t watch it being made.
Our way of life? Our who?
Because, not all of us, maybe not even half of us, want that kind of protection, here, in the USA–and it looks like there’s some Koreans in Korea don’t want it, either.
r ap
[...] som sades stämma med tidigare kända nordkoreanska torpeder. Vid en noggrann granskning av fotografierna ser det ut som att markeringen är skriven ovanpå rost, vilken kan tyda på att det är ett [...]
[...] a Southern form. On top of this the casing was merely marked with a marker rather than stamped and analysis suggest that the marker was written on top of the casings rust patterns. Even the blueprint used by [...]