Smoking (Torpedo)
By Hard to commit the perfect murder of 46 South Korean sailors these days:
The joint investigation team has reportedly found screw pieces of torpedo, probably causing the sinking of the Navy patrol ship Cheonan, near the border waters in the West Sea where the incident took place in late March.
The Korea Broadcast System (KBS) reported Tuesday that the team has launched close checking of the findings in a non-destructive testing. “The manufacturers of the screw are shortlisted to two countries Russia and China,” KBS reported, quoting government officials who were not identified.
The screw, which is a part that creates power to propel the torpedo in the tail, has been regarded as a decisive clue to the cause of the incident as it does not destruct in general even during an explosion.
The government is ready to make it clear that the corvette was sunk by the torpedo and North Korea will be responsible for torpedo attack as the government has already secured pieces of material evidence, including screw part, when it announces investigation results May 20.
Couple observations:
1. When the forensic technology of the modern state is focused on a question like this, the amount of information that can be acquired is truly remarkable. I suspect that the North Koreans understood that South Korea would divine the true cause of the loss of Cheonan, but I wonder whether they realized that the South Koreans would be able to effectively demonstrate North Korean responsibility.
2. Noting that the torpedo was of Russian or Chinese vintage is a nice touch; it puts extra pressure on Moscow and Beijing to take the lead in sanctioning and pressuring North Korea.
3. Horatio Caine would be proud: