hankyoreh

By Kwon Hyuk-chul, Staff writer

South Korea’s Navy was aware of movements by North Korean submarines on the day the Cheonan sank, but commanders neglected to take appropriate countermeasures, a lawmaker claimed Monday.

Main Opposition Democratic Party (DP) Lawmaker Shin Hak-yong said during a parliamentary Defense Ministry audit that neither the Joint Chiefs of Staff nor the ROK 2nd Fleet, the home base of the sunken Cheonan patrol ship, took appropriate measures, including ordering that ships go to battle condition or bolster their defense posture, despite detecting that a North Korean Yono-class submarine and support ships had begun operations on the morning of the day the Cheonan sank and that the North Korean military made sudden moves, including mobilizing its coastal artillery, right before the sinking.

In a press release, Shin said at 6:45 a.m. on the morning of the sinking, the intelligence room of the 2nd Fleet alerted the entire fleet based on intelligence from the previous day (March 25): this included information that they were searching for a Yono-class submarine from Nampo, four support ships from Haeju and two support ships from Nampo. He also said right before the sinking, at 8:45 p.m., the intelligence room sent out intelligence to the fleet, based on 7 p.m. that day, that ten coastal artillery guns at Jangsan Cape, Ochajin County and Biyeop Island were combat-ready.

　In response, Defense Minister Kim Tae-young said, “North Korean submarines disappear from port for long training exercises throughout the year, and since the Daecheong naval skirmish of November 2009, North Korea had put dozens of coastal guns a day on combat readiness.”

“We did not judge it to be a serious threat at the time.”

Due to security concerns, military authorities have not released the content of communications related to the Cheonan, so Shin released the content of verbal reports from face-to-face interviews with the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

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