hankyoreh

The Defense Ministry’s joint civilian-military investigation team that has been investigating the sinking of the Cheonan will reportedly conclude its activities at the end of this month without releasing the comprehensive report over its findings. Their attitude, poised to address suspicions surrounding the sinking, is not convincing.

The attitude with which the Lee Myung-bak administration has treated information regarding the sinking has been extremely two-sided at the expense of the South Korean people.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who visited South Korea in May, said, “I received a thorough and professional 400-page report.” Afterwards, it was reported that the Lee administration provided the UN Command with a 250-page report. When the team finishes its comprehensive report at the end of the month, it will reportedly provide a copy to all the nations that participated. South Korean experts and civil society are apparently the only groups that have been left out of the information sharing. The National Assembly’s special committee on the sinking received only a 7-page report. If this information is being shared in full with foreign nations, it is not a national secret. The Lee administration’s attitude can be seen as nothing other than disrespectful to the people.

Shortly after the sinking of the Cheonan, President Lee Myung-bak ordered the Ministry of Defense to conduct a thorough investigation, making all information public as soon as it came to light, to avoid leaving any room for suspicion. The Minister of Defense has also been saying that, although an investigation is currently in progress, various doubts will be cleared up when a detailed general report is released. The Ministry of Defense’s refusal to make its general report public is in direct contradiction to what it has been stating all along. Inevitably, it not only damages the Lee administration’s credibility but also raises suspicions of a hidden agenda.

The Lee administration’s decision also appears inappropriate in the light of the various doubts that are currently being voiced in South Korea and abroad. Scientists have clashed over issues such as the absorbed material on the torpedo propeller, while Russia’s scientists believes it is difficult to regard the sinking as the work of North Korea. Opposition parties have submitted a demand for a parliamentary investigation into the Cheonan’s sinking. The need for the Lee administration to cooperate in verifying the result of the investigation grows ever greater. It must not simply dissolve the investigation team and act as if nothing has happened.

The Lee administration’s measures in the wake of the Cheonan incident are in enough of a twist already. The administration is currently facing a dilemma over whether to go ahead with joint military exercises with the United States in the Yellow Sea in the face of strong resistance from China. Meanwhile, its plan to resume loudspeaker broadcasts across the DMZ have effectively been deferred after the U.S. Armed Forces Korea voiced opposition. Not unrelated to this is the manner in which the Lee administration rushed the announcement of its investigation when nothing was yet ready on the day of the launch of the local elections. The Lee administration must realize that it can no longer carry on covering up suspicions.

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]