STATEMENT OF STAFFORDSHIRE BRANCH OF THE KOREAN FRIENDSHIP
ASSOCIATION UK ON THE US/SOUTH KOREAN WAR GAMES KEY RESOLVE
/FOAL EAGLE
When the Korean people, north, south and overseas, demand peace, reconciliation and reunification of their country, the regime of Li Myoung Bak in south Korea has taken the retrograde step staging large scale military exercises codenamed "Key Resolve/Foal Eagle". The joint US/south Korean military manoeuvres "Key Resolve/Foal Eagle" are of an extremely provocative nature. These exercises are aimed as preparations for an outright invasion of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea and as a springboard for a "regime change" strategy in north Korea by the United States.
The United States and south Korea have mobilised thousands of troops into forward positions along the 38th parallel, dividing the north and south of Korea. US aircraft carriers are now entering the coastal waters of Korea. A major part of the "Key Resolve/Foal Eagle" military exercises is the simulated use of nuclear weapons against the northern half of Korea, the US has already about 1,000 nuclear devices stationed at its bases in south Korea.
The government of the DPRK has always sought an arms reduction and a peaceful solution on the Korean peninsula. It is the heartfelt desire of the DPRK to conclude a peace treaty with the USA and to achieve the independent and peaceful reunification of Korea. Both in the New Year joint editorial of the leading DPRK newspapers for 2011 and in the statement of January 2011 by the DPRK political parties and organisations, urged the south Korean authorities to have talks with north Korea at any place and at any time.
There is the possibility that the United States and south Korea may use the present unstable situation in the Middle East to launch a crusade against Peoples Korea. It would be a gross error on the part of the imperialists and the puppets if they dare to provoke the DPRK. The Korean people and army are fully capable of self-defensive and offensive actions inregard to any aggressive force.
The Staffordshire branch of the Korean Friendship Association calls upon all peace campaigners, trade unionists and anti-imperialist activists to petition the United States and south Korea to stop these dangerous war games at once. We appeal to all people of goodwill in Britain to work for peace and reunification of the Korean peninsula and strive for maximum solidarity with the cause of the Korean people. The cause of Korea is your cause, the topic of all of those who want peace and justice!!
KPA Mission Statement on U.S.-S. Korea Joint Military Exercises
Pyongyang, February 27 (KCNA) -- The U.S. imperialists and the south Korean puppet warmongers are finally launching the DPRK-targeted Key Resolve and Foal Eagle joint military maneuvers in disregard of the national agreement and the Armistice Agreement. In this regard, the Panmunjom mission of the Korean People′s Army released the following statement on Sunday: As already planned, the huge armed forces of the U.S. imperialist aggressor army and the south Korean puppet army went into combat readiness against the DPRK. Nuclear aircraft carrier and other groups for naval operations were deployed in the waters around south Korea. Flying corps for attack including strategic bombers are on a standby to go into action according to their aggression war method mainly based on air warfare. Such dangerous military maneuvers pose a serious challenge to the demand and desire of all Koreans to defuse the tension on the Korean Peninsula and bring about a new turn for independent reunification, peace and prosperity. The present situation clearly shows why the south Korean group of traitors intentionally brought to rupture the preliminary talks for north-south high-level military talks, provided with much efforts to ease the military tension on the Korean Peninsula. Under this situation, the Panmunjom mission of the KPA, upon authorization, clarifies the principled stand of the army and people of the DPRK: 1. Since they announced that Key Resolve and Foal Eagle are aimed to "destroy" the system of the DPRK in "contingency" its army and people will go into an all-out offensive to put an end to the U.S. imperialists′ military occupation of south Korea and the anti-popular ruling system of the group of traitors. It is a daydream of a fool to hope for "contingency" and "collapse" of the Korean-style socialist system, chosen and built by our people themselves. Such tragicomic fancy can be harbored only by the ignorant knowing nothing about our army and people. There will be only world-startling great changes and miracles in the DPRK which is dashing toward the eminence of a thriving nation by dint of single-minded unity. It is quite natural for the army and people of the DPRK to go into an all-out offensive to finally destroy those daringly challenging its dignified socialist system. 2. Now that it has been revealed that the Key Resolve and Foal Eagle joint military maneuvers are to examine the practicability of the adventurous "plan on local war" against the DPRK, the army and people of the DPRK will respond to reckless provocation by the aggressors with an all-out war at any time. The "plan on local war" of the U.S. imperialists and the group of traitors is an anti-DPRK scenario worked out allegedly to cope with "provocation of different types" from someone. This plan is a product of the U.S. imperialists′ cunning strategy to weaken and bring down their rival through continued military provocation and pressure. The DPRK has the unbreakable unity of the army and people around the headquarters of the revolution. All its people, with the matchless revolutionary strong army of Mt. Paektu, are in full readiness to penetrate and destroy any provocation and aggression tactics at a stroke. If the aggressors launch provocation for a "local war" the world will witness unprecedented all-out counteraction on the part of the army and people of the DPRK. It will also see such merciless counteraction as engulfing Seoul in sea of flames, whereby to smash every move for confrontation with unimaginable strategy and tactics. 3. Since Key Resolve and Foal Eagle are aimed at removal of the DPRK′s nuclear weapons and missile, its army and people will counter the nuclear blackmail by the aggressors with our own nuclear deterrent and their missile threat with our own missile striking method. The reality proves that the U.S. imperialists and the south Korean group of traitors are the very one spoiling the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula as they hurl all sorts of nuclear attack means, including group of warships loaded with nukes and corps of strategic bombers, in south Korea and its vicinity under the pretext of the said joint military maneuvers to pose a nuclear threat to the DPRK. It also fully reveals that the present U.S. administration′s call for nuclear-free world is nothing but a showy signboard. As been already declared, the army and people of the DPRK will return bolstered nuclear deterrent of our own style for the continued nuclear threat by the aggressors and our own missile striking action for their vicious attempt to eliminate our missiles. Peace is of value to the DPRK. Detente is also what it steadily desires and needs. However, its army and people will take resolute military counteractions now that the U.S. imperialists and the group of traitors responded to the DPRK-proposed wide-ranging dialogue and negotiations for peace and detente with military actions for aggression.
KPA Warning to S. Korean Military for Psywar
Pyongyang, February 27 (KCNA) -- The south Korean group of traitors are nowadays getting hell-bent on the anti-DPRK psychological warfare, driving the situation of the Korean Peninsula to overall confrontation. The group let 25 anti-DPRK conservative organizations, including the "Federation of Movement for Freedom in the North", scatter by big balloons hundreds of thousands of leaflets, USB and DVD containing corrupt animation files, foul pamphlets and one dollar notes in direction of the north side′s area from the Rimjin Pavilion around the great holiday of the Korean nation. In the past the group used to assert that the authorities had nothing to do with such scattering by civilian conservative organizations. But, this time it made wicked lawmakers from the "Grand National Party" involved in the warfare, revealing that north-south confrontation is its "state policy". In the meantime, the south Korean puppet military did not hesitate to commit such unpardonable crime as letting balloons carrying baskets of clothes, rotten videos and books fly to the areas of the DPRK side. Anyhow, the group of traitors is seriously mistaken. It seeks to undermine the socialist system in the DPRK, which displays its dignity by dint of single-minded unity and Songun, and waver its army and people′s faith with mobilization of such human scum and foul things. But this is a foolish daydream that can never be realized. The group′s more persistent psychological warfare is timed to coincide with Key Resolve and Foal Eagle joint military exercises to be staged by the U.S. imperialists and south Korea against the DPRK. In this regard the head of the north side delegation to the inter-Korean general-level military talks on Sunday pointed to the ongoing psychological warfare by the south Korean puppet military authorities and sent the following notice clarifying the Korean People′s Army′s principled stand: The on-going psychological warfare by the puppet military in the frontline area is a treacherous deed and a wanton challenge to the demand of the times and desire of all the fellow countrymen to bring about a new phase of peaceful reunification and national prosperity through all-round dialogue and negotiations. We officially notify that our army will stage a direct fire at the Rimjin Pavilion and other sources of the anti-DPRK psychological warfare to destroy them on the principle of self-defence, if such actions last despite our repeated warning. The group of traitors in south Korea must stop the anti-DPRK psychological warfare at once, squarely seeing the seriousness of prevailing situation. -0-
leadership in building socialism and the whole basis of the unity of the masses,leader and party.Indeed it can be said that the leader masses and party form the trinity that both solidifies socialism and also I read through the work "Our Socialism Centred On the Popular Masses " by the great leader comrade Kim Jong Il as well as "The Juche Outlook on the Revolution".Then later I read in a collection of works titled " Successor to the Cause of Juche".I read an essay,Formation and Continuation of the Socio Political Organism by Inoue Shuhachi director of the International Institute of the Juche Idea and emeritus professor of Rikkyo University of Japan.Reading this short essay things geled in my mind and realised that the two works of the great leader comrade Kim Jong Il that I have read actually dovetail and brilliantly expound the whole concept of Juche drives the building of socialism forward.
The masses,party and leader form an integral whole,a socio-political entity.It is only within this entity that the popular masses can realise their independence.
Also as leader Kim Jong Il himself pointed out the physical life of individuals is limited but socio-political life is limitless.
I would argue that those who disparage the DPRK and Juche socialism simply fail to see and realise the whole basis of it and its massive achievements.There is no "personality cult"(anyway a fake concept invented by revisionist bungler and traitor Khruschov) as the leader is not an individual but rather the centre of unity of society and brain of the revolution.To pit the leader against the masses as the revisionists and bourgeoisie is like pitting the brain against the body.In the DPRK the masses enjoy genuine socio political intregity united in a harmonious whole just like one big family.Man has long dreamed of immortality,it is true that physical immortality is probably not possible but in the DPRK the masses can enjoy an unlimited socio-political life as part of the collective.
The UK Korean Friendship Association today issued the following statement in connection with the decision of the US imperialists and south Korean puppets to go ahead with the holding of the Foal Eagle/Key Resolve aggressive military exercises from the 28th of February to 10th of March which involve a large number of US and south Korean puppet troops. These exercises fly in the face of the trend to relax the tension on the Korean peninsula and build confidence between the north and south of Korea.The holding of such aggressive war exercises is tantamount to throwing a wet blanket over the magnanimous peace proposals made by the DPRK.The holding of the exercises is an intolerable challenge to reunification and peace in Korea but also in north east Asia and the world.These exercises will result in greatly increased tension in Korea bringing the situation back to a state of near war. The independent and peace loving DPRK had several highly significant and constructive proposals for defusing tension,building confidence and for peace and reunification.These included the statement of DPRK political parties and organisations, proposals for a meeting between lawmakers of the north and south as well military talks between north and south.These proposals have been turned down by south Korea and the military talks were abrogated by the south Korean side.Now the US imperialists and south Korean puppets have shown their true faces as aggressors and war provokers to the world by pushing ahead with holding such aggressive exercises as Foal Eagle/Key Resolve. These exercises not only threaten the independence and dignity of the DPRK,representing an insidious attempt to stifle Juche socialism by military force but vastly increase the danger of war and conflict in east Asia.If a war is started by these exercises it could quickly become a 'nuclear exchange' and involved other countries in the Asia -Pacific.
UK KFA demands that these exercises are cancelled unconditionally and immediately.The US and south Korea must refrain from provoking a war.
London 22nd of February 2011 Juche 99 The Association For the Study of Songun Politics UK together with the Juche Idea Study Group today issued a statement denouncing and opposing the "Foal Eagle " and "Key Resolve" aggressive military exercises,by the US imperialists and south Korean puppet military, to be staged from the 28th of February 2011 to 10th of March 2011. The scale of these exercises is large as they involve 12,800 US imperialist aggression troops and some 200,000 south Korean puppet troops.These exercises are an intolerable challenge to the DPRK and seriously threaten peace and stablity in north east Asia. It is shameful and beyond comphrension that the US imperialists and south Korean puppets have called these exercises when the DPRK has made so many far reaching positive and constructive peace and reunification proposals in January 2011 including the joint statement of DPRK parties and organisations.The DPRK had also taken the intitative to hold north-south military talks but the south Korean puppets caused these to collapse without any tangible result.The US imperialists and south Korean puppets have answered the peaceloving DPRK's proposals for peace and reunification by announcing war exercises. The outbreak of war on the Korean peninsula had been prevented by the DPRK's patience and forebearance and tensions were being lessened by the DPRK's peace proposals but now the US imperialists and south Korean puppets are turning the situation back to the days of November and December 2010.We strongly condemn them for this.
The talk of the US imperialists and south Korean puppets of "removing the nuke,missiles and chemical weapons of north Korea in case of a contigency" is just a mere sophistry and a code word for destroying the Juche,people centred socialist system of Korean style in the DPRK by force of arms. The "Foal Eagle/Key Resolve" exercises threaten the independence of the DPRK and also threaten world peace by bringing the Korean peninsula back to a state of near war. We call upon the US imperialists and south Korean authorities to cancel the exercises at once and stop threatening the DPRK.We call on peace loving and progressive forces of the world to defend the DPRK,land of Juche socialism. USA OUT OF KOREA! HANDS OFF PEOPLE'S KOREA! LONG LIVE JUCHE!
NDC Inspection Group Issues Statement Revealing Truth behind Yonphyong Island Shelling
Pyongyang, February 23 (KCNA) -- The inspection group of the National Defence Commission (NDC) of the DPRK in the first installment of the statement issued on Nov. 2 last year scientifically and fairly disclosed before the world that the sunk Cheonan ship case was the most hideous conspiratorial case in the history of the nation faked up by the U.S. and the south Korean group of traitors. In the subsequent period, experts of south Korea conducted 11 tests including a precision analysis of the process of the formation of absorptive on the hull of the ship and torpedo parts with the help of a scanning tunneling microscope. These tests led to flatly refuting the investigation results presented by south Korea. Shell pieces on which flower-shape white substances are attached were found in the propelling body of the torpedo which was produced as overwhelming evidence proving the ship sinking. This proved that the propelling body had long been under water, not for 1-2 months. The puppet Defence Ministry hastily removed the shell pieces only to become people′s laughing stock. An officer who had been hired for a search operation in the waters where the incident took place was proved to have met death during the rescue operation of a U.S. submarine, increasing the suspicions about the clash between "Cheonan and the U.S. submarine." More facts are being brought to light to probe the truth behind the above-said charade. It has already been known that more than 70 percent of the south Koreans said they were skeptical about the "story about the north′s involvement in the Cheonan case" while the rest do not believe it or remain doubtful about it. The DPRK proposed the U.S. and south Korea conducting a joint investigation into the case after bringing relevant evidence to Panmunjom if they can not receive the inspection group of the NDC of the DPRK. But they have not yet responded to this bold and magnanimous proposal. Even a mere child can guess their ulterior motive. However, the group of traitors of south Korea is making far-fetched assertions in a bid to exploit the already-bankrupt Cheonan case for escalating confrontation with the DPRK. This group is making futile efforts to shift the blame for the Yonphyong Island shelling on to the DPRK. South Korea′s delegates walked out of the conference room in the eyes of the north side′s delegates when preliminary talks for the high-ranking north-south military talks were held on Feb. 8 and 9. But the south side floated the misinformation that the north side′s delegates unilaterally walked out of the conference room. It is clear from this fact that the above-said group may cook up whatever it likes. The Yonphyong Island shelling was a planned provocation aimed to trigger off a direct military clash against the Korean People′s Army through a reckless preemptive attack. Through this the group sought to play down its crime and push the north-south relations to the brink of war as the Cheonan case was branded as a hideous conspiratorial case, making it impossible for it to escape the bitter domestic and foreign public accusation and denunciation. The Cheonan case was the initial provocation to put overall military pressure on the DPRK in conspiracy with foreign forces while the Yonphyong shelling was the second planned provocation to ignite a war against the DPRK. The south Korean group of traitors recorded last year as a year of confrontation and conflict. In the new year, too, it is free to let loose a whole string of reckless remarks falsifying truth, persistently using the two cases for stoking confrontation between fellow countrymen. Under this situation the inspection group of the NDC decided to disclose the truth behind the Yonphyong Island shelling.
1. Truth behind the Yonphyong Island Shelling
Yonphyong Island in the West Sea of Korea covers 6.8 square kilometers and its circumference is about 18 kilometers. This small island has been widely known for the diversity of fishes and their abundance and become an object of envy by foreigners. This island, however, has turned into an advance base for aggression against the DPRK as huge marine corps and artillery forces are deployed by the south Korean puppet warmongers. After amassing huge strike means on five islands in the West Sea of Korea including Yonphyong Island, south Korea watched for an opportunity of provocation while working out a firing plan of artillery pieces and flying corps of the puppet army for the defence of the "northern limit line." But it could not put it into practice in face of the toughest stand taken by the army of the DPRK and strong public opinion inside and outside Korea. On Nov. 22 last year when Hoguk exercises targeted against the DPRK was at its height across south Korea, the puppet Joint Chiefs of Staff crafted a plan to bombard the territorial waters of the DPRK side on Nov. 23 and 24 from waters off Yonphyong Island. The army of the DPRK, prompted by its hope to avert a military conflict in the sensitive waters and preserve peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, sent a telephone message to the puppet military at 8:00 on Nov. 23. The message called for immediately canceling the reckless plan for shelling at the territorial waters of the DPRK side. It also warned in strong terms that in case south Korea defies this, it will face a resolute physical counterattack by the army of the DPRK and that it will be held wholly responsible for all the ensuing consequences. South Korea, however, opened fire at the territorial waters of the DPRK by mobilizing artillery pieces deployed on Yonphyong Island. Yonphyong Island, once home to peaceable inhabitants, thus turned into a base for preemptive military provocation and could not escape a deserved punishment. The merciless physical counterattack on the positions of the puppet army on the island proved once again that the strong revolutionary army of Mt. Paektu did not make an empty declaration when it said that it would never pardon anyone intruding even a bit into the territorial waters and air and territory of the DPRK over which its sovereignty is exercised. There is no house owner who will allow a robber to go on rampage and no army of any country who will allow warmongers to make a preemptive attack on its inviolable territorial waters. It was due to the group of traitors keen on confrontation with fellow countrymen that peaceful waters turned into a theatre of military conflict all of a sudden. Fortunately, more than 1 300 islanders remained unhurt because they all went to the seaside opposite the firing positions to gather shellfishes. The warmongers, however, went so sordid as to try to beat back the counterstrike by the DPRK by using the inhabitants as "human shields." They even did not inform the inhabitants of the warning message from the DPRK. As for "civilian casualties", they were a few civilians enlisted in the armed forces. They were in the barracks of the puppet army. Had they not entered the barracks, they would not have met death. Far from drawing a due lesson from its piteous plight, the group of traitors opted for expanding the shelling, crying out for so-called "retaliation" and "punishment." The group of traitors carried out a massive replacement of military brasshats including the defense minister with hawkish guys and bolstered huge troops of the three services in and around Yonphyong Island. After clamping an emergency alert they fired bullets and shells from the area of the island for more than one hour on Dec. 20. They secretly changed the waters and targets to be shelled for fear of the second and third counterstrike by the army of the DPRK. They also used the shells that had been left unused during the island shelling incident a month ago. The army of the DPRK did not feel any need to respond to this clumsy firing conducted by the coward military for a propaganda purpose to save its face. Had the group of traitors fired even a shell on the territorial waters of the DPRK side, not only those islands from which shells were fired but also Seoul would have turned to a sea of fire.
2. Yonphyong Island Shelling: Extension of Systematic Provocation to DPRK
The Yonphyong Island shelling was an extension of the military provocations that have been systematically escalated up to this date since the publication of the Korean Armistice Agreement in 1953. After sustaining a bitter defeat in the three-year war aimed to stifle the DPRK in its cradle, the puppet group of south Korea flatly denied the conclusion of the AA and worked in every way to scrap and render it invalid while crying out for "separate northward advance". These moves were vividly proved by its acts in waters around the five islands in the West Sea on which a maritime military demarcation line was not set at the time of concluding the AA. These islands are geographically close to the coast of the DPRK side. South Korea tried hard to put its plan of "separate northward advance" into practice while committing abduction and murder of peaceable fishermen, armed attacks on the area of the DPRK side and other crimes with the waters around the islands as a springboard. The military provocations in waters of the West Sea of Korea and other areas were handled as the top agenda item at a meeting of the Military Armistice Commission after the conclusion of the AA. This proves the gravity of the military provocations in these waters at that time. Due to the south Korean puppet army the waters in the West Sea turned into an advance base for the provocation of a war against the DPRK and a dispute-ridden waters fraught with the constant danger of confrontation and conflict between the north and the south. South Korea escalated military provocations in the waters even in the 1960s, 70s and 80s in the wake of the 1950s. In the 1990s they developed into military conflicts too dangerous to put under control. An example of this was the first West Sea skirmish in June 1999. At that time the U.S. and its allies′ war against Yugoslavia was drawing to an end. South Korea set the DPRK as a target and the West Sea as an ignition point for the second Korean war. Then it buckled to carrying out the "operational plan to provoke the north". The puppet warmongers of south Korea amassed two large destroyers, 20 clippers, more than 40 combatant ships of various types including tank landing ship, guard ship, supply ship, rescue ship as well as marine corps in waters around Yonphyong Island. They recklessly preempted firing at the ships of the DPRK side on routine guard duties. After failing to make the first West Sea skirmish an ignition point for an all-out war, the puppet military warmongers sparked off the second armed conflict in the waters in 2002 when the hot wind of reconciliation and unity swept the peninsula more furiously than before. In the subsequent period the puppet forces annually escalated the intrusions into the maritime guard line of the DPRK side in a planned way and triggered the third West Sea skirmish in 2009 only to disclose that they sought to use the waters around Yonphyong Island as an advance base for provoking a war against the DPRK. After the Lee Myung Bak group of traitors came to power, the number of intrusions into the territorial waters of the DPRK side sharply increased. Last year alone it infiltrated ships into them on over 600 occasions under the pretext of "intercepting fishing boats" or coping with the routine operation of the ships of the navy of the DPRK. All the facts prove that the Yonphyong Island shelling was by no means an accidental case but a product of protracted confrontation with fellow countrymen incited by the successive puppet warmongers and a direct revelation of the systematic extension of their military provocations.
3. Criminal Aim Sought by Group of Traitors through Yonphyong Island Shelling
The Yonphyong Island shelling perpetrated by the south Korean group of traitors was a grave military provocation committed as an extension of the Cheonan case. The case faked up by the group by sacrificing innocent soldiers for confrontation with the DPRK on March 26 last year turned out to be more unfavorable to the group as the days go by. The "results of investigation", announced by it twice to prove that the case "was linked with the north," were full of doubts, sparking off bitterer ridicule and criticism at home and abroad. The first installment of the statement issued by the NDC inspection group revealing the truth behind the Cheonan case in the eyes of the world brought into bold relief the true colors of the tricksters who faked up the case. The U.S. and the group of traitors found no word to refute it. The tricksters worked hard to seek a way for tiding over the unfavorable situation. The "bright idea" that came to the minds of the U.S. and the group of traitors was to fire shells into the waters under the DPRK control in a bid to induce its army to take a countermeasure and drive the north-south relations to the brink of war. To this end, the south Korean group of traitors fired bullets and shells into the waters of the DPRK side despite its repeated strong warnings. The Lee Myung Bak group of traitors sought a sinister aim in committing shelling from Yonphyong Island. The shelling was aimed to persistently maintain its stand of preserving the illegal "northern limit line", first of all. It is well known to the world that the "northern limit line" is a brigandish line unilaterally drawn inside the inviolable waters of the DPRK by the U.S. imperialist aggression forces present in south Korea under the berets of the "UN forces". The U.S. imperialists felt extremely tired after sustaining an unprecedented defeat in the Korean War in July 1953. They let Clark, the then commander of the "UN forces", set the NLL, so-called Clark line, in the waters of the West Seat of Korea in a bid to check traitor Syngman Rhee′s reckless attempt at "separate northern expedition" and prevent a war which might reoccur according to it and, at the same time, bar south Korean fishermen from going to the northern half of Korea. The line is the "final line for blocking the way to the north" and the "limit line for banning the sailing of boats to the north" unilaterally drawn by Clark, commander of the U.S. imperialist aggression forces, to meet the U.S. self-righteous interests. Henry Kissinger, U.S. secretary of State in 1975, referring in a diplomatic message to the illegality of the NLL, said that the NLL was unilaterally set and it was not accepted by north Korea. This is in wanton violation of international law as the line was unilaterally drawn in the open sea, he added. The U.S. ambassador to south Korea in December 1973 expressed deep concern by claiming that in case an incident occurs in the waters along the NLL, south Korea and the U.S. would be blamed by majority countries for doing wrongs. As seen above, the U.S. and its satellites openly admitted the illegality of the line. That was why the U.S. imperialists did not inform the DPRK side of the line, far from opening it to the public though many years have passed since then. The voices ridiculing the NLL as a "hot potato" which is poor in logic and serious in practice are endlessly heard from among the political, academic and public circles of south Korea as it was unilaterally set. Moreover, the NLL is quite contrary to the Paragraph 13 B of the Korean Armistice Agreement stipulating that the island groups of Paengyong-Do, Taechong-Do, Sochong-Do, Yonpyong-Do and U-Do shall remain under the military control of the commander of the "UN forces" and all other islands and waters under the military control of the DPRK side. It is in total breach of the norms of maritime boundary stipulated by the International Law of the Sea including the respect for the right to 12-nautical mile territorial waters. Had the NLL been set according to the recognized legal norms and usage, the south Korean group of traitors would not have felt the need to "preserve" the line with so much effort. The puppet forces preempted shelling from Yonphyong Island where the military confrontation between the north and the south remains acute though south Korea has so many islands. Their real intention was to "preserve the NLL" whose existence is at increasing peril day by day. The Yonphyong Island shelling was also designed to spark off military conflicts in the West Sea of Korea in a bid to nullify the historic June 15 North-South Joint Declaration and the October 4 declaration, its action program, the precious gains common to the nation, and turn the waters into an eternal theatre of confrontation and conflict. It is the unanimous aspiration and desire of all Koreans in the north and the south and abroad to make the waters of the West Sea of Korea peace waters and ensure the common interests and prosperity of the nation. A lot of cases of military confrontation and clash in the past caused painful casualties and the economic losses, and damages done to fishermen in the north and the south amounted to astronomical figures. The adoption of the historic two declarations, the proposal for setting the special zone for peace and cooperation in the West Sea for the co-prosperity of the nation and the adoption of an agreement on providing a military guarantee for setting common fishing waters and peace waters reflected the unanimous desire of all Koreans. But the expectation and hope of the Koreans to see the disputed waters in the West Sea of Korea which brought disgrace and pain of the nation turn into peace and prosperity waters adding to the pride and joy of the nation have not been translated into reality. No sooner had traitor Lee Myung Bak, steeped in antagonism toward the DPRK, become the master of "Chongwadae" than such hideous policy for confrontation with fellow countrymen as "no nukes, opening and 3 000 dollars" was adopted as a "state policy." He began to scrap the historic north-south agreements which had already been under implementation, blustering that he would approach the north-south relations with a "ruler of pragmatism", not with a "yardstick of ideology." The group of traitors totally turned down even the proposal for preventing military confrontation and conflict between the north and the south and ensuring the common interests and prosperity of the nation under the pretext of "sympathy of the people" and "financial burden". It hatched a sinister plot to eliminate everything step by step after classifying the inter-Korean agreements, the precious gains common to the nation, into a category which should be implemented on a priority basis, a category to be implemented at the final phase and a category which should not be implemented. This drove the implementation of the historic October 4 declaration to a total suspension, brought the north-south relations back to those of confrontation in the era of the Cold War and turned the West Sea again into a theatre of military confrontation and conflict, an advance base for igniting a war against the DPRK and a position from which to start an attack on it. No wonder, the people in south Korea, commenting on the Yonphyong Island shelling in which the military clash spilled over to the land from the sea, deplored that such tragic incident would not have occurred if the October 4 declaration had been implemented. The said shelling was also aimed at plugging the U.S., its master, deeper into its scenario for invading the DPRK. After setting it as the primary target to keep the U.S. imperialist aggression forces in south Korea for an indefinite period, traitor Lee Myung Bak of south Korea did not hesitate to commit the thrice-cursed treachery to "tighten the alliance" with the U.S. But he could not settle the issue of postponing the transfer of the right to control wartime operations as he intended. This was because the decision to hand over the right to control wartime operations to the puppet army till April 17, 2012 according to the south Korea-U.S. "summit" in September 2006 was made public to have been officially agreed at the bilateral "defense ministers talks" in February 2007. Driven by the urgent need to create exceptional "uneasy security" for the pretext for the U.S. forces′ permanent presence in south Korea, the group of traitors was repeatedly closeted, finally cooking up the case of Cheonan warship sinking at night under the territorial waters in peacetime. The group staged big joint naval exercises one after another under that pretext and introduced nuclear carrier flotilla of the U.S. imperialist aggression forces into the narrow waters of the West Sea of Korea. It then held renegotiations for postponing the transfer of the right to wartime operation control as it planned and succeeded in extending the hand-over time for additional three years and seven months. Enraged people rose up in protest against this pro-American and treacherous act across south Korea. Upset by this, the group of traitors needed the second Cheonan case, i.e. a shocking case to keep the "uneasy security". The Yonphyong Island shelling was committed under meticulous plan for this purpose. In order to put this plan into practice, the group committed two adventurous military provocations at the time when 2010 was running out. It is misusing the case of Yonphyong Island shelling to escalate confrontation with the DPRK in the new year, too.
4. Who was behind the Yonphyong Island shelling?
When the group of traitors perpetrated shelling from the Yonphyong Island one after another despite strong protest and denunciation at home and abroad, the attention of the world was focused on the every movement of the U.S. imperialist aggression forces present in south Korea under the mask of the "UN Command". This was because the U.S. imperialists, the real master of the command holding the right to "control wartime operations" in south Korea and tasked to implement and oversee the Korean Armistice Agreement, zealously backed and patronized the military provocations of the puppet forces, far from preventing them. When the group announced the plan for second shelling from the island, pushing the situation on the Korean Peninsula to the brink of war, the U.S. imperialists let the command fully support the plan, terming the projected exercise one to be staged legitimately in observance of the AA. Moreover, they declared that they would send at least 20 persons belonging to the UN forces to the island to assist the group in such fields as communications and medical care so that it would go ahead with the exercise as planned. Lurking behind this was their sinister aim to paint any military conflict in these sensitive waters as confrontation between the army of the DPRK and the "UN Command," not anything happening between the north and the south. The U.S. imperialists misled public opinion by advertising the military provocation of the group as "legitimate shelling exercise" in a bid to make the military conflict between the two sides a fait accompli and get the U.S. aggression forces in south Korea fully ready to involve themselves in it. There was no clash between the two sides as the army of the DPRK paid no heed to such vicious military provocation as taking revenge after being hit hard. But the U.S. imperialists staged large-scale joint naval maneuvers after rapidly dispatching "George Washington" nuclear carrier flotilla made up of cruisers, destroyers, nuclear submarines, landing craft, etc. dozens of carrier-based aircraft, F-15 and F-16 fighters as main forces to the narrow waters of the West Sea of Korea as they planned. In succession they sent more than 10 000 troops of the U.S. imperialist aggression forces, a nuclear carrier flotilla and over 150 fighters to the waters off Okinawa in Japan to stage the largest-ever joint military exercises in coordinated operations with 34 000 troops of the Japan "Self-Defense Forces", 40 warships and 250 planes. They even invited south Korean puppet troops to participate in the exercises as "observers". Timing to coincide with this, they invited top class servants of south Korea and Japan to Washington for a confab to discuss "a joint counter-action" against the DPRK and "close cooperation". Their military moves in the wake of the Cheonan case and the Yonphyong Island shelling were aimed to wind up the setting up of the structure of military confrontation in Northeast Asia under the pretext of the escalating tension on the peninsula and, furthermore, realize their wild ambition for world domination. As already disclosed, the U.S. imperialists′ Asia-Pacific policy is the core and mainstay of their strategy for world domination in the 21st century. In order to realize this strategy, they are attaching great importance to the above-said region where big powers are concentrated, to the Korean Peninsula, in particular, as it is of great importance geologically and strategically. It is their judgment that it is impossible to dominate the Asian continent nor is it possible to lay a military siege to Eurasia unless the whole of Korea is put under their control. So they calculate that they can easily dominate the world if they seize the Korean Peninsula and overpower the big powers in Northeast Asia. But the reality was quite contrary to what they intended. They ran the whole gamut of means such as economic isolation and suffocation, psychological warfare and military threat to stifle Korean-style socialism. But they suffered repeated setbacks. On the contrary, their influence and right to domination weakened in this region due to their domestic and foreign environment and crisis. They felt the urgent need to exercise influence backed by military muscle and this required an appropriate justification. Hence, they instigated the south Korean group of traitors to fabricate the Cheonan case. Later they openly allowed the group to "take counter-action by exercising the right to self-defense" and "amend the rules of belligerency." They egged the group on to perpetrate shelling from Yonphyong Island, even providing "information about the north" and giving prompt support with latest military hardware including F-22 Raptor fighters. What merits particular attention in their moves after the Cheonan case and the Yonphyong Island shelling last year is that they are channeling all efforts into establishing the structure of military confrontation in Asia. The moves to knock into shape a triangular military alliance involving the U.S., Japan and south Korea which had been pushed forward from long ago are aimed to militarily dominate the region by mobilizing not only the U.S. imperialist aggression forces but Japan SDF in case of "contingency" on the Korean Peninsula. It is their scenario to form a new military bloc in the region and expand the U.S.-led military blocs to the east and the west and then throughout the world. The Asian type NATO is more dangerous than NATO, in actuality. The issue of establishing a missile defense system has not been officially stipulated in NATO and it has no operational plan for invading and occupying other countries, in particular. But the above-said triangular military alliance includes the above-said issue and plan. It is more aggressive and interventionist in its nature than NATO. Means and methods of operations are more specified in the alliance. The U.S. imperialists staged an emergency huddle under the pretext of "taking a joint counter-action" against the Yonphyong Island incident at which they agreed with south Korea to take a counter-action by hurling puppet warmongers as a shock brigade to counter somebody′s "local provocation" while providing support to them from behind and mobilizing even the Japanese reactionaries. This indicates that they are set to ignite a war against the DPRK by mobilizing multi-national forces. All these facts are enough to reveal once again that the U.S. imperialists were behind the above-said two cases.
5. Bitter Lessons Drawn from Yonphyong Island Shelling
The Yonphyong Island shelling that occurred owing to the U.S. and the south Korean group of traitors taught serious lessons to the Korean nation and other world people desirous of peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula. The first lesson is that it is necessary to cross off the illegal "northern limit line" and set the extension of MDL in the West Sea of Korea in a fair way at an early date. The viewpoint and stand on the "northern limit line" can serve as a touchstone distinguishing those standing for peace in the West Sea from those opposed to it. From a military viewpoint, a curtain of bilateral military conflicts was already raised in the West Sea of Korea. Any armed clash may lead to an all-out war, seriously threatening not only the destiny of the Korean nation but also world peace. The "northern limit line" is a ghostlike line which can convince no one because it was unilaterally drawn in a brigandish way without a bilateral agreement, to say nothing of the requirements of the international law of the sea, the principle of respecting the opponent′s 12-nautical mile territorial waters, requirement of AA and the "law of the sea" of south Korea. No wonder, even the U.S. imperialists drew the north-south "imaginary boundary" in the West Sea of Korea further southward than the "northern limit line" on the basis of the principle of equidistance stipulated by the international law of the sea. At that time they were distributing Korean maps to the participants in the UN conference on the law of the sea which was held in the U.S. After the Yonphyong Island shelling, not only the broad international community but also Americans became increasingly vocal calling for re-fixing the "northern limit line". Selig Harrison, director for Asia Program of the Center for International Policy of the U.S. who is an expert on Korean affairs, said that it is very easy to solve the West Sea conflict between south and north of Korea. The U.S. has to reset the "northern limit line", an extension of MDL in the sea, in the dispute-ridden area a little southward, he added. He went on to say that the U.S. has the right to reset the "northern limit line" as it was granted by the UNSC the right to nominate the commander of the UN forces in south Korea in November 1950. The Obama administration must discuss the issue of setting the new boundary in the West Sea of Korea with both sides of Korea, but must not grant the south Korean regime the right to refuse a new boundary if an agreement on it is reached, he pointed out. The broad international community including political, social and academic circles is becoming increasingly assertive that the U.S. should come out to remove the "northern limit line". This represents the world opinion that it is none other than the U.S. which should set the new boundary in the West Sea with responsibility to ensure peace in the waters of the West Sea of Korea. It is the view of the world people that the U.S. imperialists sowed the seed of armed clash and dispute in the waters and the south Korean group of traitors abused it for invasion of the DPRK and confrontation with it. The reality proves that a top priority task for averting conflicts and disputes and achieving durable peace in the waters is to correctly set the boundary there. Another lesson is that the dispute-torn waters should be turned into a peace zone until a new extension of MDL is set there. It is the common will of the Korean nation to set up peace waters to make the West Sea a sea of national prosperity, not the one of confrontation between fellow countrymen. The historic October 4 declaration on which the north and the south agreed reflected this will. This declaration stipulated the principled matters for putting an end to the relations of military hostility, defusing tension and ensuring peace on the Korean Peninsula. In particular, it provided the best way for setting up the special zone for peace and cooperation in the West Sea and fixing a joint fishing zone and peace waters. Both sides held the second defence ministerial talks and general-level military talks for the implementation of the October 4 declaration, at which they agreed to take practical measures to prevent conflicts and secure peace in the West Sea. The army and people of the DPRK put forward the realistic and principled proposals to implement this agreement. They included landmark proposals calling on both sides to give up all their assertions from broad mind, handle the West Sea conflict on the basis of the already existing north-south agreements, AA and demand of internationally accepted laws, until a new military demarcation line is set in the West Sea of Korea, and fix the peace waters and joint fishing zone. However, the south Korean group of traitors scrapped valuable agreements of the Korean nation. As a result, the seed of conflicts and disputes still remains in the waters, becoming a potential flash point of an all-out war. From the outset it paid no heed to the lessons of the past West Sea incidents and the principled ways for solving them put forward by the DPRK. It only worked with blood-shot eyes to maintain the illegal "northern limit line" and ignite a war against the north. The past history showed that if the south Korean authorities truly hope for peace on the Korean Peninsula, they should give up their stand of preserving the "northern limit line" and set a new extension of the Military Demarcation Line in the West Sea of Korea. And it showed that they should buckle down to putting into practice the proposal for setting the special zone for peace and cooperation in the West Sea advanced by the DPRK till the new extension of the MDL is set. It also proved that those opposed to this are precisely harassers of peace and provocateurs of war. There is a saying that the past is the "lamp" lighting the present and future. It is self-evident that if the north and the south do not pull themselves out of the mire of confrontation, sticking to the inglorious past, they can never pave a wide avenue of peace and prosperity, much less achieving peace and stability on the peninsula. Whoever truly wants the improved north-south relations and values peace on the peninsula, whether they live in the north and the south and abroad, should neither call into question the Cheonan case and the Yonphyong Island shelling any longer nor put them up as any precondition. Explicitly speaking, the Cheonan case has nothing to do with the DPRK. It is the immutable truth. The Yonphyong Island shelling would not have occurred if the south Korean group of traitors had not preempted shelling in the waters of the DPRK side. For over six decades since the division of Korea, the army of the DPRK has never taken any physical countermeasure against all forms of shelling drills which had been staged in the areas and waters of south Korea. If the group of traitors tries to link the Cheonan case with the DPRK in a far-fetched way and shift the blame for the Yonphyong Island shelling onto it while turning blind eyes to this stark reality, this will only prove that the group seeks only the escalated confrontation with fellow countrymen and the deteriorated north-south relations. The army of the DPRK proposed "On halting military actions which can be recognized as provocation of the other party" as an agenda of the recent preliminary talks for the opening of the north-south highly-level military talks. This was prompted by the steadfast will to tide over the present developments in a fair and aboveboard way at an early date, the developments which resulted from the distrust and antagonism pent up between the north and the south for a long period. The recent north-south military dialogue was held with much effort amid the great concern and expectation of the people at home and abroad. The south Korean group of traitors, however, persisted in peddling the two cases there because it sought confrontation and war, not dialogue and peace. As a result, the talks naturally came to a rupture. It is too natural that broad strata of south Korea are becoming increasingly concerned and worried that if the present authorities turn their back on the DPRK′s proposal for unconditioned dialogue and rush headlong into one-sided confrontation, calling into question the two incidents, this will entail miserable consequences of swamping the whole land of south Korea as the Cheonan warship and turning it into a wormwood field like Yonphyong Island. But the group of traitors prolonging their remaining days through sycophancy toward the U.S. and escalated confrontation with fellow countrymen is working hard to find a way out in keeping the phase of confrontation under the pretext of the two cases. The further the U.S. imperialists and the south Korean group of traitors "blame" the DPRK for the two cases, the more saliently it will reveal their ugly colors as anti-DPRK confrontational fanatics and their effrontery of confusing right and wrong. The army and people of the DPRK will continue doing their utmost to shatter the vicious moves of the worst confrontational elements in the world, improve the north-south relations and ensure peace and stability of the Korean
AND THE REUNIFICATION OF THE COUNTRY IN A UNITED EFFORT
Talk to the Delegates to the North-South High Level Negotiations from Both Sides
February 20, 1992
I am glad today to meet you, the delegates of the two sides, who have successfully concluded the sixth north-south high-level talks.
I am satisfied with and highly praise the joint efforts you have made for the “Agreement on Reconciliation, Nonaggression, Cooperation and Exchange between the North and the South” and the “Joint Declaration on the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula ” which have been effected at this time.
The effectuation of these documents is an epoch-making event and a landmark on the way to realizing peace and the reunification of the country.
With the north-south agreement and the joint declaration, the north and the south can break with their past of distrust and confrontation and make a fresh advance towards reconciliation; further, they are able to eliminate the danger of war and look forward to a bright future of peace and the peaceful reunification of the country.
The agreement of the north and the south to reconcile themselves and cooperate with each other and to advance towards reunification has proved irrefutably that neither outside forces nor differences in ideology and system can divide our nation of one and the same blood that has existed for thousands of years.
All the Korean compatriots in the north and the south as well as abroad actively support and warmly welcome the success in your talks, regarding it as the common success of the nation and as a historic victory for the national ideal.
With the current sixth north-south high-level talks as the impetus, our fellow countrymen have taken an extremely important first step towards the independent and peaceful reunification of the country. This advance should not be stopped and should not falter; it must continue until reunification.
To this end, the stand of independence should be maintained above all else.
The division of our country caused by outside forces should on all accounts be ended through the efforts of our nation itself.
If one side depends on foreign forces and tolerates foreign interference at a time when the country is divided into the north and the south, it can be viewed as a confrontational attitude, not as an attitude for reunification. Such a confrontational attitude will make it impossible to implement the north-south agreements properly and difficult to conduct dialogue responsibly and based on mutual trust. Now that the two sides have agreed on reconciliation, they must discard the idea of confrontation, trust their fellow countrymen and rely on the national force for independence instead of depending on foreign forces.
The north and the south must also direct primary attention to achieving peace and adopt practical measures for ensuring peace in the country.
Since they have reached an agreement on nonaggression, the north and the south must stop their arms race and realize disarmament. Herein lies the surest guarantee for nonaggression and also the way completely to remove the fear of northward or “southward” invasion. There is no need for foreign troops to be in our country, nor is there any reason for foreign military bases to be maintained here. We consider that it is high time for us to reach a decision on this matter.
The nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula should also be resolved.
We cannot know whether there are still nuclear weapons in south Korea or whether they have all been withdrawn. So we, who have been exposed to a nuclear threat for more than 30 years, are still gravely concerned.
As for us, as we have already said on numerous occasions, we are not producing nuclear weapons, nor do we have any need to do so, and we do not possess any. We have no intention of entering into a nuclear confrontation with the neighbouring major powers and, moreover, we cannot conceive of developing nuclear weapons which can exterminate part of our own nation. No one should doubt this.
Promoting the great unity of the nation is the basic spirit of the north-south agreement.
If the north and the south are to become reconciled and achieve reunification, they should bring about great national unity, transcending the differences in ideas and systems.
Opposing each other and regarding the other as a pariah because of differences in ideologies and ideals only produces national disruption. Every Korean should put the common interest of his nation to the fore, subordinate everything to it and unite on the basis of patriotism and the spirit of national independence.
We should destroy the barriers in ideology and system and enforce the policies of great national unity and of love for the country and the nation.
The agreements which have become effective at the sixth north-south high-level talks are a pledge made by the authorities of the north and the south before the nation.
The Government of our Republic regards these historic agreements as precious results of our efforts to achieve the independent and peaceful reunification of our country and will make every effort to implement them.
We are convinced that if the north and the south build up mutual confidence by working on details, adhering to the principles of independence, peaceful reunification and great national unity, they will be able to give our people greater pleasure in the future and achieve without fail the reunification of the country in the ’90s, which the entire nation desires.
In conclusion, I express my hope that the north and the south will make joint efforts to open up the way to peace and the reunification of the country further, and I wish the delegates of the two sides greater success in the future.
UK KOREAN FRIENDSHIP ASSOCIATION STATEMENT ON FEBRUARY 16TH GREATEST NATIONAL HOLIDAY OF THE KOREAN PEOPLE February 16th is celebrated by the people of the DPRK, as well friends of the DPRK throughout the world, as the greatest national holiday of the Korean people.Why? because leader Kim Jong Il chairman of the National Defence Commission of the DPRK(the highest organ of state),who is also general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and supreme commander of the Korean People's Army was born on February 16th 1942. Comrade Kim Jong Il was not born in comfortable or easy or peaceful surroundings but in a simple log cabin on blizzard swept Mt Paektu during the fierce anti Japanese armed struggle.For this reason he developed strong revolutionary,anti imperialist and patriotic consciousness.
As a senior school student and university he participated in manual labour such as the work of reconstructing Pyongyang and also in production pratice at Lathe No 26 at the Pyongyang Textile Machinery Factory.
Never an armchair leader but always a man of action he became involved with the work of leadership of both the Workers' Party of Korean and the DPRK revolutionary armed forces in the 1960's.In the mid 70s he led the "70 speed battle" for socialist construction arousing workers to great miracles such as industrial production leaping forward 1.7 times. In 1975 he visited the Komdok Mine and despite being told not to go down the mine,he went into the pit using the same rail car as used by ordinary miners saying that if they used it he must too.He believed that there should be no distinction between him and the masses.Even today he wears the same style of clothes as workers instead of a shiny business suit. He developed the Juche idea in depth by writing the famous treatise "ON THE JUCHE IDEA" and many other works on the Juche philsophy.This treatise developed the concept that man is the master of everything and decides everything to a higher level and elucidated that man has independence,creativity and consciousness.Leader Kim Jong Il is well versed in philosophy.Indeed he has written on many subjects such as the cinema,opera,art, music and historiography, not just politics or the military. He also developed the Songun policy of giving priority to the army and making it the pillar of the revolution.This was essential to defend the DPRK's independence and socialist system from the encroachments on its sovereignity by US imperialism.
Chairman Kim Jong Il continues with on the spot guidance today.It does not just mean going and visiting a factory or locality and giving instructions but actively guiding work,finding solutions to problems and learning from the masses.In 2009 he gave on the spot guidance 200 times and 140 times in the first half of 2010. As a result the DPRK is in a period of upswing with new buildings appearing everyway.New world class flats with all mod cons have been built in Mansudae Street in Pyongyang and all sorts of public buildings have been built or extended such the e library and swimming at the Kim Il Sung university,the State theatre and a new People's Study House in Sariwon city. The DPRK is surging forward under the Songun leadership of comrade Kim Jong Il. UK KFA salutes the 69th birthday of the great leader comrade Kim Jong Il,a great man of theory and practice and great leader and guide of the Korean people,creator of the Songun era !
Rush to Judgment: Inconsistencies in South Korea’s Cheonan Report [A Japanese translation is available here]
Seunghun Lee (Department of Physics, University of Virginia)
J.J. Suh (SAIS, Johns Hopkins University)
Japanese translation by 宋基燦 (立命館大学非常勤講師)
On the night of March 26, 2010, the 1,200 ton Republic of Korea (ROK) Navy corvette Cheonan was severed in the middle and sank off Baengnyeong Island in the West Sea (or Yellow Sea). Forty-six crew members died in the incident. After almost two months of investigation, the ROK government released an interim report that traced the cause of the Cheonan’s sinking to the explosion of a North Korean (DPRK) torpedo.1 The report, however, contains a number of inconsistencies that call into question the government’s conclusion and the integrity of its investigation. In order to address these inconsistencies and to restore public confidence in the investigation, the ROK government must form a new team to restart the investigation from the beginning. We recommend that the international community continue its insistence on an objective and thorough investigation while reiterating its commitment to peace and stability on the Korean peninsula.
The Joint Civil-Military Investigation Group (JIG), made up of 22 military experts, 25 experts from 10 military-related research institutes, and three civilian experts recommended by the Parliament,2 conducted an almost CSI-like scientific investigation3 that involved a test explosion, a computer simulation, and such high tech analyses as EDS and XRD. In its interim report released at a press conference on May 20, it revealed three main findings: (1) the Cheonan’s sinking was caused by an explosion outside the ship; (2) the explosion was that of a torpedo; and (3) the torpedo was manufactured by North Korea. The JIG drew, on the basis of these findings, the logical conclusion that North Korea was responsible for the sinking of the Cheonan. We agree that this indeed is the logical conclusion one would make if all three findings were correct.
After a careful analysis of the JIG’s report and evidence and our own physical testing, however, we find that the JIG has failed (1) to substantiate its claim that there was an outside explosion; (2) to establish the causal linkage between the Cheonan's sinking and the torpedo; and (3) to demonstrate that the torpedo was manufactured by the DPRK. The JIG presented its three “findings” without credible evidence, and its findings are self-contradictory and inconsistent with facts. All three are riddled with such serious flaws as to render the JIG’s conclusion unsustainable. Furthermore, there is a very high chance that its EDS or x-ray data may have been fabricated. Our results show that the “critical evidence” presented by the JIG does not support its conclusion that the Cheonan’s sinking was caused by the alleged DPRK’s torpedo. On the contrary, its contradictory data raises the suspicion that it fabricated the data.
First, the JIG failed to produce conclusive, or at least convincing beyond reasonable doubt, evidence of an outside explosion. While the JIG argues in its report that the pattern of the ship’s deformation and severance is consistent with the damage caused by a bubble effect from an outside explosion, its claim is not supported by the evidence. A JIG simulation showing how a bubble might be formed by an underwater explosion, and how it might sever the Cheonan, was not completed by the time the JIG released its report, as it acknowledged at the Parliament’s Special Committee on the Cheonan on May 24.4 The simulation that was shown at the conference only shows a bubble being formed and hitting the bottom of the ship, deforming the ship and making a small rupture in the hull.5 Nowhere does this simulation show the Choenan being completely severed in the middle by the bubble, as stated in the JIG report. Dong-a Science, a South Korean science publication of the conservative Dong-A media conglomerate, released more information about the simulation, presumably courtesy of data supplied or leaked by the JIG, the day after Suh raised questions about the effect of the bubble.6 Astonishingly, the updated simulation still failed to show how the bubble might have severed the Cheonan. The leaked simulation shows that after the bubble hit the ship and made a small rupture, it began to shrink and show signs of breaking up. As of the writing of this paper, more than 30 days after the JIG released its investigative report on May 20, the ROK defense ministry, speaking on behalf of the JIG investigation, admits that its it has yet to produce a bubble simulation consistent with the information presented in the JIG report. If that is the case, on what grounds did the JIG argue that the Cheonan was damaged and severed by the bubble effect? We asked that question in public but received no reply.7
Not only did the JIG's press conference simulation fail to show that the bubble effect could have cut the Cheonan, that simulation is not consistent with the pattern of the ship’s damage. If the bottom of the ship was hit by a bubble, it should show a spherical concave deformation resembling the shape of a bubble, as the JIG’s own simulation suggests (see the right side of Figure 1), but it does not. The bottom of the front part of the ship is pushed up in an angular shape, as the yellow line shows in the left side of Figure 1, more consistent with a collision with a hard object. The tear line in the JIG simulation has a circular shape because the hull shows a tear in the area that was hit by the spherical bubble. Equally important, if a bubble jet effect was produced by an outside explosion of 250kg of explosives, as the JIG argues, that explosion should have produced an immediate pre-bubble shock wave whose strength would have been at least 5000 psi (pounds per square inch) when it hit the bottom of the Cheonan.8 The bottom and ruptured surface of the ship betray no sign of such a large shock (compare Figure 1 with Figure 2 that shows the damage done by 5 psi on a house); the internal instruments and parts remain intact in their original place; and none of the crew members suffered the kind of injuries expected of such a shock (Figure 3). Given that an underwater explosion produces both a bubble effect and a shock wave and the latter is usually about 6 to 10 times as destructive as the former, the ship’s and the crew’s condition is not consistent with the damage expected of an outside explosion.9
Even if the JIG could produce a simulation that shows the bubble effect severing the Cheonan, it is no proof that there was indeed an explosion that produced the bubble effect. Proof depends on a pattern of ship destruction that is consistent with a bubble effect simulation. But at this point, the JIG’s May 20 press conference simulation did not show the ship's severance and a bubble effect simulation leading to severance has not yet been completed by the ROK defense ministry's own admission. Moreover, the May 20 simulation is not consistent with the ship’s deformation. The JIG’s so-called first finding, therefore, is a mere allegation that is groundless and contradicted by the JIG's own evidence and at least one analysis of underwater explosions in the military literature.
Figure 1. Cheonan’s Damaged Bow and JIG’s simulated damage
Figure 2. Damage done by 5 psi on a house
Figure 3. The Diesel Engine Room and Gas Turbine
Second, even if the JIG succeeded in demonstrating that an outside explosion occurred – and it did not – it still needs to show that the explosion was that of the torpedo recovered by the JIG. But its claim that the “recovered” torpedo exploded outside the Cheonan has no scientific basis. It has presented two pieces of evidence to support its claim: that white compounds – “adsorbed materials” in the JIG’s report (we analyzed the Korean-language JIG report) – found on the torpedo match those found on the surfaces of the Cheonan ship; and that the compounds resulted from an explosion. We concur with the JIG on the first, but believe that the second has no basis.10 The electron-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and x-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses, done by the JIG, unambiguously prove that the white compounds found on the ship (AM-1 [AM= adsorbed materials11]) and the torpedo (AM-2) have the identical atomic composition and chemical compounds, supporting the first piece of the evidence. But the intensity ratio of the oxygen peak and the aluminum peak in their EDS data of the AM-1 and AM-2 is very different from that of the alumina, Al2O3, that the JIG argues is formed during the explosion. This means that the AM-1 and AM-2 samples have nothing to do with any explosion, but are most likely aluminum that has rusted after exposure to moisture or water for a long time.12 An independent scientist, Dr. Yang Panseok, a member of the University of Manitoba’s department of geological sciences, has found that the EDS intensity ratio of hydrogen and aluminum in the compounds is not even close to that of the Al2O3 that the JIG claims constitutes the compounds. Rather, it matches that of an aluminum hydroxide, Al(OH)3.13 This alone clearly tells us that the AM-1 and AM-2 are not associated with any explosion. Furthermore, the x-ray diffraction pattern of the AM-3 third sample that was extracted from the JIG's test explosion is completely different from the x-ray patterns of the AM-1 and AM-2. The main difference is that in AM-3 sharp peaks are present indicating (1) only a fraction of the Al (aluminum) oxidized during the explosion, and (2) the un-oxidized Al remains in its crystalline form, while in AM-1 and AM-2 no signal related to any Al-related compounds was observed.14 The JIG claims that the compounds have different crystal structures because the real torpedo explosion produced a higher temperature and experienced a more rapid cooling by the sea water than the JIG’s test explosion, and as a result, almost 100% of the Al was oxidized, and almost 100% oxidized alumina became amorphous. However, there have been several scientific experiments that approximate a real explosion, and they report that the resulting Al-related compounds are both crystalline alumina, called alpha-Al2O3, and amorphous alumina, called gamma-Al2O3.15 One of us, Lee, has performed a laboratory test in which an aluminum sample was heated above its melting temperature and was rapidly cooled by water, mimicking the explosion conditions. When the resulting materials were examined using EDS and x-ray, it turned out that only a fraction of the aluminum was oxidized, and the resulting compound contained un-oxidized Al and alpha-Al2O3, both crystalline. This is consistent with previous scientific studies, and it indicates that experimental heating and cooling of Al resembles a real explosion at least qualitatively, if not quantitatively. In fact, the JIG x-ray data of the AM-3 sample (the JIG's test experiment data) shows strong crystalline Al signals and weak crystalline -Al2O3, consistent with the Lee experimental results. However, when the media reported our experimental results and the inconsistencies between the AM-3 and the other two samples, the ROK ministry of defense responded that the crystalline Al signal found in the AM-3 sample was due to an experimental mistake, which we believe is a plain lie.16 To summarize, our scientific analysis and experiment lead us to conclude that (1) JIG's AM-1 and AM-2 samples did not result from an explosion and (2) some of JIG's data, most likely the AM-3 EDS data, may have been fabricated.17 Thus, the “critical evidence” presented by the JIG to link the Cheoan sinking to the alleged explosion of the torpedo is scientifically groundless and perhaps fabricated.
Figure 4. JIG’s EDS and XRD
Third, although the JIG presented the torpedo parts recovered from the area of presumed explosion as “critical evidence” that tied the explosion to North Korea, the “critical evidence” has a serious inconsistency that casts doubt on the integrity of the evidence. The outer surface of the torpedo propulsion unit that was found was greatly corroded, presumably because the coat of paint that would have protected the metal had been burnt off during the explosion. The paint burn-off and resulting metal corrosion are consistent with a high heat explosion commonly found in bombs and torpedoes. And yet the blue ink marking of Hangul – “1bǒn” in Korean – remains intact despite the fact that ink has a lower boiling point, typically around 150 degrees in Celsius, than paint does – typically 350 degrees Celsius – and thus the ink marking should have burnt away just like the outer paint. Our simple estimates suggest that the torpedo would have been subjected to heat of at least 350 degrees Celsius and quite likely over 1000 degrees, high enough to burn the paint and thus the ink as well. This inconsistency – the high heat tolerant paint was burnt but the low heat tolerant ink was not – cannot be explained and casts serious doubt on the integrity of the torpedo as “critical evidence.”18 Furthermore, both North and South Koreans can write the Korean letter “1bǒn”, and thus we doubt that a regular court of law would consider the mark evidence of exclusive North Korean writing.19
Figure 5. The Torpedo with Korean marking
In conclusion, the JIG had the burden of demonstrating beyond reasonable doubt all three of its findings in order to substantiate its conclusion that the DPRK’s torpedo destroyed and sank the Cheonan, but each of the three findings contain serious inconsistencies. Given that all three key claims have serious flaws, the JIG conclusion based on these claims is at least as seriously marred. While we emphatically note that our findings do not prove that North Korean did not do it, we conclude that the JIG has failed to prove that it did. The seriousness of the inconsistencies in fact casts doubt not only on the validity of the JIG conclusions but also on the integrity of its investigation. We suspect that at least some of the EDS data was fabricated, and recommend that an impartial board be formed to verify the integrity of the JIG data.
Given the seriousness of the inconsistencies, we recommend that the ROK government reopen the investigation and form a new, and more objective, team of investigators.20 We call on the Korean Parliament to open a separate investigation into the JIG investigation itself in order to critically assess the integrity of the investigation, tests, and data. In the United States the Obama administration should support and assist an objective and thorough investigation while making clear U.S. commitment to helping maintain peace and stability in the Korean peninsula. Given the problematic nature of the JIG conclusions, the UN Security Council should urge the ROK to produce a more convincing and objective report before the council starts its deliberations. An investigation that is as thorough, objective, and scientific as humanly possible is needed to get to the bottom of the Cheonan incident to discover the cause and perpetrator. After all, forty six lives have been lost, and peace and security of Korea and Northeast Asia is at stake. The dead sailors deserve such a report. So does the international community.
Seunghun Lee is Professor of Physics, Johns Hopkins University. Lee’s research focuses on strongly correlated materials such as non-conventional high temperature superconductors, quantum magnets, frustrated spin systems, magnetic molecules, and multiferroics.
Jae-Jung Suh is a professor of International Relations at Johns Hopkins and a specialist on the international relations of the Korean Peninsula. He is the author of Power, Interest and Identity in Military Alliances.
The authors prepared this report for The Asia-Pacific Journal.
For the membership of the Joint Investigation Group, click here.
Articles on related subjects:
The Hankyoreh, Russia's Cheonan investigatin suspects that the sinking Cheonan ship was caused by a mine in water.
David Cyranoski, Controversy over South Korea's sunken ship Physicists' research casts doubt on idea that North Korean torpedo downed vessel. Nature.
Tanaka Sakai, Who Sank the South Korean Warship Cheonan? A New Stated in the US-Korean War and US-China Relations. The Asia-Pacific Journal.
John McGlynn, Politics in Command: The “International” Investigation into the Sinking of the Cheonan and the Risk of a New Korean War. The Asia-Pacific Journal.
Recommended citation: Seunghun Lee and J.J. Suh, "Rush to Judgment: Inconsistencies in South Korea’s Cheonan Report," The Asia-Pacific Journal, 28-1-10, July 12, 2010.
Notes
1 The May 20th report released by the ROK is actually an interim report. It plans to issue the final report by the end of July, 2010. Not only did the ROK government rush to judgement on the cause of the Cheonan incident, as we argue in this article, but it has also rushed to punitive measures against the DPRK, including urging the United Nations Security Council to act on the basis of the interim report.
2 One of the 3 civilian experts, recommended by the opposition Democratic Party, was expelled from the JIG before it released its report. The person expelled was then charged by the South Korean Navy with “defaming” it for propagating the “false allegation” that the Cheonan had been grounded. Kim Kwikǔn, “Haegun, sinsangch’ǒlwiwon ‘myǒngyehueson’ hyǒmǔi koso [Navy Charges Shin Sang-Chul of ‘Defaming’ It,”] Yonhap News, May 19, 2010.
3 CSI or Crime Scene Investigation is a popular U.S. TV series that depicts police use of advanced forensic and scientific techniques to investigate and solve crimes.
4 Yun Dǒkyong, co-chairman of the JIG, admitted at the hearing of the Parliament’s Special Committee on the Cheonan on May 24 that “we are continuing our simulation and the final result of the simulation will come out in July,” conceding that “the simulation is not yet completed to show the water column [that is allegedly produced as a result of the bubble effect], but it will be all shown when the simulation is completed.” Pak Jǒngi, another co-chairman, added that “the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials [that is in charge of the simulation] said it would complete the simulation by July 15th.” Kim Namgwon and Kim Pǒmhyǒn, “Kimgukpang, ‘Puk, simnijǒn konggyǒkhamyǒn chǔkkak taeǔng [Defense Minister Kim, ‘Will Immediately Respond if North Attacks [Our] Psychological Warfare’],” Yonhap News, May 24, 2010. The latter quote is from “Ch’ǒanhamt’ǔkwi, ‘mulgidung chonjaeyǒbu’ nonnan [Cheonan Special Committee, Controversy over ‘Presence of Water Column’], Yonhap News, May 24, 2010.
5 The JIG’s simulation results are available here. Although the ROK defense ministry (MND) has updated the simulation, as of July 2, 2010 it still fails to show how the Cheonan was severed.
6Suh Jae-Jung, “Bǒbǔlhyogwanǔn ǒbssǒtta [There was no bubble effect],” Pressian, May 27, 2010. Chǒn Tonghyǒk, “P’okbalhu 1ch’okkaji … ch’ǒnanham paemit irǒtke jjigǔrǒjyǒtda [Up to a second after explosion … The Chonan’s bottom deformed this way],” Dong-a saiǒnsǔ [Dong-A Science], May 28, 2010.
7 Suh, op.cit.
8 Suh’s calculation on the basis of the formula in the Australian report, Reid, Warren D. "The Response of Surface Ships to Underwater Explosions." Melbourne, Victoria, Australia: Defence Science and Technology Organisation, Department of Defence, 1996.
9 Ibid., page 1. The Ministry of National Defense initially stated that 70% of a torpedo’s explosive energy will be a shock wave effect. After Suh’s article asked why the Cheonan betrays no signs of shock wave damage, the MND decreased the ratio to 54% and 46%. The ratio varies depending on the kind of explosive and the mix of other ingredients such as aluminum powder. For the MND’s initial position, see Kim Byǒngnyun, “ǒroi kiroi, sujung p’okbalǔi wiryǒk [Torpedo and Sea Mine, the Power of Underwater Explosion],” Ministry of National Defense, April 28, 2010. For its newer numbers, see Kim Byǒngnyun, “Ǒroi sujungp’okbal ch’ungbyǒkp’a bǒbǔlhyogwaro sǒnch’e p’agoe [Torpedo’s Underwater Explosion Destroys Ship with Shock Wave and Bubble Effect],” Ministry of National Defense, May 22, 2010.
10 S.-H. Lee, “Comments on the Section "Adsorbed Material Analysis" of the CheonAn Report made by the South Korean Civil and Military Joint Investigation Group (CIV-MIL JIG),” ArXiv, June 6, 2010 here.
11 "Adsorbed materials" does not appear in the English version of the ROK's Cheonan investigative report but does appear as an English insertion in the Korean version. AM-1, AM-2 and AM-3 are designations created by Seunghun Lee in a scientific paper authored by him that discusses the JIG's analysis of the adsorbed materials.
12Kang Yanggu, “Ch’ǒanham deit’ǒ ch’imyǒngjǒk oryu… aluminyumǔn kǒjitmal anhae [The Cheonan data has fatal flaws… aluminum does not lie],” Pressian, June 24, 2010.
13 Yang suspects, on a careful analysis of the JIG’s EDS data, that the AM-1 and AM-2 are not aluminum oxides but more likely aluminum hydroxide, Al(OH)3, found in nature commonly as gibbsite. Kang Yanggu and Hwang Chunho, “Isanghan naraǔi ch’ǒnanham … ‘aluminium sanhwamulǔn ǒbssǒtta [The Cheonan in Wonderland … There was no aluminum oxide],” Pressian, June 30, 2010 and Hankyere, June 30, 2010.
14 Lee, June 6, 2010, op. cit.
15S.-H. Lee and P. Yang, “Was the "Critical Evidence" presented in the South Korean Official Cheonan Report Fabricated?” June 28, 2010.
16S.-H. Lee, “Ch’ǒnanham habjodanǔi ‘gyǒljǒngjǒk chǔnggǒ’nǔn chojaktoetta [The JIG’s ‘critical evidence’ is fabricated],” Pressian, June 16, 2010. For the Ministry of National Defense’s response, see “Mo int’ǒnet maech’eesǒ pododoen ‘isǔnghǒn kyosu chujang(1)’e daehan dapbyǒnimnida [Response to ‘Professor Lee Senghun’s allegation (1) reported in an internet media],” Ministry of National Defense, June 21, 2010.
17 Lee and Yang, op. cit.
18 The JIG argues that when the torpedo exploded, it produced heat higher than 3000 degrees Celsius and that aluminum powder in the explosive material melted and transformed into amorphous aluminum oxides, which bonded with the propeller of the torpedo. Since aluminum oxides in powder form cannot bond with another metal, it must be in liquid state. Given that aluminum’s melting temperature is 660 degrees and aluminum oxide’s melting point is 2000 degrees Celsius, the rear part of the torpedo must have been subjected to heat of at least somewhere between 660 and 2000 degrees Celsius, if the JIG claim is right. Whether 660, 2000 or 3000 degrees Celsius, it cannot be scientifically explained that none of this heat affected the ink marking.
19 The ROK defense ministry reported on June 29 that the ink is made of “solvent blue-5.” Recognizing that it is a common ingredient used in markers worldwide, the ministry conceded that “it might be difficult to conclude that the ink is made in North Korea.” A military official added that the result of the ink analysis will not be included in the final report on the Cheonan incident due to be completed by the end of July. “’1bǒn’ingkǔsǒ solbentbǔlu5 sǒngbun gǒmch’ul [Solvent Blue-5 Detected from ‘1bǒn’ Ink],” Yonhap News, June 29, 2010.
20 Despite its name – the Joint Civil-Military Investigation Group – the absolute majority of its members, 65 out of 74, work for the Ministry of National Defense or MND-related think tanks and institutes. One of its two heads, Pak Chǒng-I, was a three star general at the time of the investigation, and was subsequently promoted to a four star status after the release of the report.
