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The Mystery of the Sunken Navy Ship, Cheonan
 
By Kim Na-yeon, Guest Reporter
 
A South Korean Navy ship sank in the west coast near North Korea at around 9:45 p.m. Until now 58 of the 104 crew members were rescued from the ship Cheonan, nevertheless the survival of the missing people has not yet been verified. Meanwhile the reason for this incident remains vague. Therefore there are some assumptions around this mystery rather sticking to the prudent tone. of the missing people has not yet been verified. Meanwhile the reason for this incident remains vague. Therefore there are some assumptions around this mystery rather sticking to the prudent tone.
The Financial Times, a British newspaper reporter reported that the South Korea government is not certain whether North Korea was involved in the incident. However it discreetly pointed out that the tension between the North and South Korea might rise due to this accident since the North Korea conducted an experiment of nuclear last year if it was happened by the north.
BBC News, a department of the British Broadcasting Corporation, quoted a South Korean presidential spokeswoman saying that it was premature to say what caused the Cheonan to sink. However they mainly focused on the strained ties between North and South Korea. It cited another South Korean ship had fired shots toward an unidentified ship in the North following the alleged torpedo attack. It suggested that through this accident apparent clash comes at a time of tension between the two Koreas. It also mentioned that International talks aimed at ending the communist nation's nuclear ambitions have been stalled for months. It implied the bad effect toward the economic ties, which are continuing rows over both cross-border tourism and a joint economic zone at Kaesong.
CNN, the U.S. Cable News Network reported this accident mentioning the navy shot at an unidentified ship toward the north. But it has cautious approach to the reason of the accident citing U.S. State Department spokesman saying. "Let's not jump to conclusions here," said the spokesman, Philip J. Crowley, when asked about possible North Korean involvement. "I'm not aware of any evidence to that effect, but I think the authoritative source here would be the South Korean government." It suggested there was no evidence North Korea was behind the incident.
The New York Times, an American daily newspaper, took a critical look at the incident of sunken navy ship. Fifty-eight sailors were rescued in the hours after the explosion, but none have been found since, alive or dead. It pointed out that South Korea’s military has often been accused of whitewashing investigations into soldiers’ deaths, adding complexity to the Cheonan mystery. It quoted the military official’s estimation that the supply of oxygen in the cabins would last only up to 69 hours. In other words any navy crewmen who initially survived and managed to seal themselves inside watertight cabins would most likely have run out of air by Monday night.
As described above, the foreign presses gave major coverage to this accident. Many foreign news agencies assume prudent attitude to the possibility of provocation by the North Korea. And they also have attention to the impact to the international situation as well as relationship between North and South Korea.
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