Russian Media Call for Probe into Truth about "Cheonan" Case
Pyongyang, June 11 (KCNA) -- The Golos Russii on June 7 quoted the director of the Center for Korean Studies of the Far East Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences as saying as regards the case of warship "Cheonan" sinking:
The case of warship's sinking is beset with many contradictions.
One of them is a question. If it is true that "Cheonan" was sunk by a torpedo attack from a mini-sub of the DPRK, where did that mini-sub flee? Warships of the U.S. and south Korea equipped with modern monitoring system were busy with military exercises in those waters at that time.
There are some assertions that the case was a politically motivated provocation.
It is, therefore, necessary to clarify the cause of the warship sinking and ferret out the chief culprit.
It is our view that the tension on the Korean Peninsula should not be escalated.
The Golos Russii also quoted what a reporter of the Ria-Novosti News said after looking round the hull of "Cheonan" displayed in a base in Phyongthaek, south Korea.
He expressed strong doubt about the "results of investigation" made public by an "inspection team". If the DPRK sought the so-called "retaliation" as claimed by the south side, why should it have conducted the operation at a time when large-scale joint military exercises were underway in the waters of the West Sea with even the nuclear sub of the U.S. forces equipped with an early warning system involved? he questioned.
He held that south Korea used the case for adopting an arms buildup plan envisaging the shipment of many more weapons from the U.S., etc. while Japan exploited it for hastily retracting from its earlier decision on the pullback of all the U.S. troops from Okinawa where more than half of its forces in Japan are stationed.
The case of warship's sinking is beset with many contradictions.
One of them is a question. If it is true that "Cheonan" was sunk by a torpedo attack from a mini-sub of the DPRK, where did that mini-sub flee? Warships of the U.S. and south Korea equipped with modern monitoring system were busy with military exercises in those waters at that time.
There are some assertions that the case was a politically motivated provocation.
It is, therefore, necessary to clarify the cause of the warship sinking and ferret out the chief culprit.
It is our view that the tension on the Korean Peninsula should not be escalated.
The Golos Russii also quoted what a reporter of the Ria-Novosti News said after looking round the hull of "Cheonan" displayed in a base in Phyongthaek, south Korea.
He expressed strong doubt about the "results of investigation" made public by an "inspection team". If the DPRK sought the so-called "retaliation" as claimed by the south side, why should it have conducted the operation at a time when large-scale joint military exercises were underway in the waters of the West Sea with even the nuclear sub of the U.S. forces equipped with an early warning system involved? he questioned.
He held that south Korea used the case for adopting an arms buildup plan envisaging the shipment of many more weapons from the U.S., etc. while Japan exploited it for hastily retracting from its earlier decision on the pullback of all the U.S. troops from Okinawa where more than half of its forces in Japan are stationed.
