South Korea today all but ruled out the chance that North Korea was involved in the sinking of one of its navy vessels near their disputed border yesterday.
"Given the investigations by government ministries so far, it is the government's judgement that the incident was not caused by North Korea, although the reason for the accident has not been determined yet," a senior government official was quoted as saying by Yonhap news agency.
A Reuters reporter on Baengnyeongdo island near where the ship sank said about 10 navy and coastguard vessels, along with divers, were searching the area and the wreckage. MBC television quoted defence ministry sources as saying they were investigating whether it was the result of an explosion on board the vessel.
Presidential Blue House spokeswoman Kim Eun-hye earlier said there had been no unusual movements by North Korea, which has a million-strong military, much of it near the heavily armed border that has divided the Korean peninsula for more than half a century.
The defence ministry said 58 of the 104 crew on board had been rescued and Yonhap quoted navy officials as saying several had died. It was later quoted as saying 46 were still missing.
"An unidentified reason caused a hole in the ship, which led to its sinking. Rescue efforts are under way," the ministry said. "The ship fired a warning shot at an unidentified object, and the object was later suspected to have been a flock of birds. But we are checking," it said.
Initial speculation that North Korea might have sunk the ship had spooked Wall Street on Friday. Share prices dipped partly on geopolitical concerns, and the won dropped against the dollar.
Earlier, South Korean media had quoted officials as saying the North could have torpedoed the ship. One said it could have struck a mine.
Navies from the rival Koreas exchanged gunfire for the first time in seven years in the Yellow Sea in November, damaging vessels on both sides.
Reuters