Killing the 46 Cheonan seamen twice

Ninety-seven leaders of leftist civic groups, including the People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, urged in the name of “all walks of life in civil society” Wednesday that the government investigation into the sinking of the naval corvette Cheonan last year was “unreliable.” They demanded further probes and verification of the cause of the sinking. The 97 people, including the solidarity group’s co-leader Lee Suk-tae and former Prime Minister Han Myeong-sook, told a joint news conference that demanding a North Korean apology for the sinking as a precondition for resumption of inter-Korean military talks is “undesirable.” Do they mean that Seoul should accept Pyongyang’s proposal for talks while not demanding an apology despite 46 South Korean seamen killed in the incident?

In May last year, the civic group released a report on the Cheonan incident that questioned the findings by a joint investigation team of experts from five countries. The next month, it sent the report to Mexico and 14 other member countries of the U.N. Security Council, along with a letter expressing doubts over Seoul’s own investigation process.

Since the sinking of the Cheonan, many Chinese officials have virtually acknowledged the North’s culpability in the attack. Yet they officially say they never pointed fingers at any country, adding South Koreans are the ones who deny the North’s responsibility. China’s attitude suggests that those who scoff at the conclusion reached by some 100 experts from South Korea, the U.S., Britain, Australia and Sweden will weaken Seoul’s diplomacy and undermine national security.

It is hard not to express anger over leftist figures who call themselves "intellectuals" for continuing to unilaterally side with Pyongyang while ignoring facts and science as they did a year ago. As long as there are people who protect North Korea, the communist regime will have no qualms about provoking the South. The expression “all walks of life in civil society” confuses the public. Such leftists will merely be pro-North Korea figures who always side with the North despite the Cheonan and Yeonpyeong Island incidents and the hordes of North Koreans who are starving to death.