The other side of the Cheonan incident

Posted by Jimmy on Aug 18, 2010 in Korean News | 1 comment

I read a very interesting article regarding the divided opinions on the sinking of the Cheonan ship.

Here are some points from the piece:

On the conflicting views of the incident - The types of evidence presented by the two groups also differ entirely in character. The former group has presented evidence that any sensible person could understand, including the clean condition of the surviving and deceased sailors, the lack of a water column, the damage state of the ship’s screws’ wing blades, and the fishing net wrapped around the propeller’s axis. On the other hand, the latter group has presented a piece of torpedo propeller.

The torpedo age – Regarding the degree of corrosion of the metal surface, Lee Jong-in conducted his own experiment with small metal pieces under water, and argued that the JIG’s claim that the chunk of the metal had been underwater for just 50 days was false. This is consistent with the results of visual examination done by Russian experts.

The markings on the torpedo-the “No. 1” mark could be written by South Koreans as well, and thus it would not be taken as evidence by a court of a democratic society. Even the JIG have denied its evidentiary validity; their own chemical analysis concluded that the ingredient of the blue ink was “Solvent Blue 5” that had patented by a South Korean company, Monami, and they said that it cannot be traced to the North Korea.

Markings on the torpedo and the fragments on the propeller-Song’s claims contradict the JIG’s claim that the “adsorbed materials” are aluminum oxide stuck to the propeller as a result of the explosion. Moreover, the JIG claimed that the paint on the exterior of the torpedo burned away completely due to the heat, and Dr. Song’s conclusion predicts the exactly opposite.

Accusation of fabrication-However, a quick examination by Dr. Panseok Yang, a specialist in EDS, and myself, a specialist in XRD, revealed that the JIG’s data did not make sense, and that some of the data must have been fabricated.

Conclusion -During the course of the Cheonan issue, South Korean society has been showing an outstanding collective reasoning. Why, then, have we so far been unable to unveil the truth about the sinking? The reason is that the South Korean government is hiding the relevant information. A formal congressional inquiry is needed, but the current congress is neglecting its own proper duties. Even with the limited information, however, cracks are showing.

http://letstryreason.wordpress.com LetsTry Reason

To the “outside” world intellectuals who don’t read Korean,

This is a remarkable story of people – the governed(although they are in theory supposed to be the actual governor in democracy), not their government – making difference in the world (history).

1. Compare and contrast.
“More enlightened” American people, Congress and media; Bush; WMD; War (and huge suffering),
(http://whitehouser.com/war/CIA-confirms-Bush-WMD-lie )
and,
“Supposedly less so enlightened” Korean people; Korean President Lee; Cheonan; prevention of War (so far).
(I am including among ‘the Korean people’ the Korean-Americans.)

2. Also remarkable is that the “inside” Korean people braved the government prosecution.
Caveat: Under the current South Korean regime, South Korean citizens can be sued for defamation by their own government officials, and defamation in South Korea is a crime (as well as a civil offense) prosecuted by the government’s own centrally controlled national prosecutors who selectively choose or choose not whom to prosecute.
Recently, Shin Sang-cheol, “an expert placed on the JIG [Joint Investigation Group] by” the National Assembly, got (criminally) sued for defamation by a government official for expressing disagreement over the current South Korean regime’s version of the Cheonan Incident. (http://www.zimbio.com/Mizuho+Fukushima/articles/BvIMjqn_oLw/South+Korean+Investigation+Team+Member+Mr )

(South Korean people’s firsthand knowledge about the pro-government polls is that they are ridiculously overinflated.
A proof: war-fear-mongering South Korean President Lee Myung-bak got unexpectedly humiliated on the June 2 election by the “Supposedly less so enlightened” Korean people,
when “survey conducted by the major daily [pro-government]Dong-A Ilbo and the Korea Research Center from May 24 to 26[7-days-before] forecast[ed] that Oh would beat Han by 20.8 percent.”
Actual election result: 0.6 percent(=”47.4 percent”-”46.8 percent.”)
Source: http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2921960 )

3. A list of early English publications on Questions on the Cheonan Incident and the Power of South Korean Netizens can be found at http://korea.true.ws (by LetsTry Reason) and newer writings at http://letstryreason.wordpress.com .

Also, look at: “the U.S, South Korea, the U.K, Canada and Australia, but not Sweden [NOT Sweden], contributed to the second-statement findings [claiming that North Korea might be guilty]” – “Five reasons why the the JIG’s 5-page statement cannot be considered scientific and objective, nor … ‘international’”
http://japanfocus.org/-JOHN-MCGLYNN/3372 ;
“Russian Probe Sees No North Korea Hand In Cheonan Sinking! Russia Says Sea Mine Sunk Cheonan”
http://socioecohistory.wordpress.com/2010/07/28/russian-probe-sees-no-north-korea-hand-in-cheonan-sinking/ ;
http://willyloman.wordpress.com/2010/06/30/pcc-772-cheonan-south-korean-government-admits-the-deception-and-then-lies-about-it/ ;
http://nature.com/news/2010/080710/full/news.2010.343.html ;
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-korea-torpedo-20100724,0,4196801,full.story

4. Compare and contrast.
9/11; Al-Qaeda; brags We did it(, was not wrong, not sorry about it and we will do it again).
Cheonan; North Korea; brags We didn’t do it (therefore, presumably, was wrong, sorry about it and we will not do it). (Why the difference?)
Crime and punishment. If we are taking consequentialist moral philosophy, and if the utilitarian utility of punishment is to prevent future crime, then punishment serves little or no purpose (maybe to others but not)to North Korea who says ‘We didn’t do it,’ because either (a) the North didn’t do it, therefore the punishment will be outrageous injustice,
or (b) the North did do it, but ‘We didn’t do it’ basically implies ‘We will not do it.’
(This particular ‘it’ hardly gives the North any payoff.)
*If you don’t get scared of us, how can We become the terrorist, and if you don’t know We did it, how can you get scared of us?

5. Representative democracy is not pure democracy. (Pure)Direct democracy of a nation-size is now (or becoming) possible, through recent developments in computer science and technology, making secure private Internet-voting, democratic online discussions, cheap instantaneous micro referendum and freedom of choice to vote directly on an issue or use an agent possible.
The science (computer science) should finally make the people, the governed, the actual de facto governor in democracy.

6. I take this honor of hereby formally asking the folks in Norway to consider awarding a Nobel Peace Prize to the “Supposedly less so enlightened” Korean people including myself,
who in early days, among various activities, proposed the “outside” world contact initiative for the Cheonan peace, providing email addresses of all the foreign embassies in Korea, U.N., Hillary, Obama, and the foreign media.