Conspiracy theory lingers 2 years after Cheonan sinking

A system for reinforcing national defense has yet to be completed due to the National Assembly’s failure to pass related acts two years after the sinking of the South Korean naval corvette Cheonan by North Korea’s torpedo attack. There are many loopholes in national defense as the public perceives. In a public survey, as much as 45.6 percent of women in their 20s and 43.1 percent of men in their 30s said they cannot trust the results of the government’s investigation into the Cheonan sinking.

A statement issued Thursday by the left-leaning civic group, People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, starts with the sentence “Two years has passed since the Cheonan sank at waters office Baengnyeong Island.” Is it proper to define the incident, in which the South Korean naval corvette was split into two due to North Korea’s torpedo attack, as a sinking incident? The civic group claims that the 19th National Assembly should form a non-partisan special committee and conduct probe into the case to find truth.” Some online media outlets have raised anew conspiracy theory saying “The Cheonan was sunken at attack by a U.S. military submarine.” Just as Yoon Deok-yong, emeritus professor at KAIST who served as chief of the civilian-military joint investigation committee, said, people who fail to differentiate objective facts from political prejudice are spreading the conspiracy theory.

Surviving soldiers from the Cheonan sinking have testified that they heard banging sound of explosion once or twice. Sentry soldiers at the coast of Baengnyeong island also spotted flashing light reaching 100 meters high for two to three seconds. An analysis on the vessel’s distortions by the U.S. revealed that there was massive explosion equivalent to magnitude from 200 to 300 kilograms of TNT at 3 meters left from the center of gas turbines at waters six to nine meters deep. Components of the propulsion motor, including propeller that thrusts torpedo and control device the joint investigation team lifted with special net, were identical to the materials, design, size and shape of torpedoes found in a brochure North Korea published to export them to foreign countries. Despite all scientific evidence, left-leaning, pro-North Korean civic groups are banking on pseudoscience that is based on ideology.

Cha Sang-ryul, who lost his son chief petty officer Cha Gyun-seok due to the Cheonan sinking, can only sleep one or two hours a day. He says, “When I lie down in the bed, I cannot fall asleep. I think I will be like this forever,” sighing. Yoon Cheong-ja, the mother of late senior chief petty officer Min Pyeong-gi, said, “Due to insomnia, I lost my memory and am out of my mind.”

North Korea announced that it will launch a long-range rocket around April 15 to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of North Korea’s founder Kim Il Sung. But people who seek to block the construction of a naval base in Jeju are highly vociferous and active in the South. National defense will not be strengthened just because the Defense Minister, Chief of the Joint Staffs, and the commander of the Second Fleet renew their commitment to combat. South Korea should root out the conspiracy theory that insults the death of the 46 soldiers and their bereaved families, and accurately teach young people who immaturely call the Navy “pirates” a crisis this nation is facing.