Survivor: “The country has become crazy”
Washington Correspondent
The families of deceased sailors and survivors of the 2010 sinking of the South Korean Navy warship Cheonan visited the Blue House on Tuesday, April 6th, and urged President Moon Jae-in to “officially declare that North Korea was responsible for the attack.” However, a senior official at the Blue House told the media that he has nothing to share about the visit at this point.
Recently, the Presidential Truth Commission on Deaths in the Military decided it would restart the investigation into the sinking of the warship Cheonan, which killed 46 sailors. Its decision came more than a decade after South Korean officials and an international team concluded that a North Korean torpedo sunk the ship. The Commission decided to reopen the investigation after a man named Shin Sang-chul filed a petition to reinvestigate it. Shin has long argued that the warship sank after it collided with rocks or other underwater objects. The Presidential Commission’s decision to reinvestigate this issue was made in December, but it was reversed last week after strong backlash from the families of the sailors.
On Tuesday, Lee Seong-woo, the chairman of a group that represents the families of the fallen sailors, Min Kwang-ki, older brother of fallen Master Chief Petty Officer Min Pyong-ki, and Choi Won-il, the Cheonan’s captain at the time of the sinking, visited the Blue House and met with a senior official. They requested a meeting with President Moon, an investigation on the Presidential Commission’s decision-making process behind reopening the probe, and an official statement from the Blue House.
Reportedly, the Blue House told them that the Commission is an independent institution, and they cannot intervene in the decision-making process. “I have nothing to explain to you about this because I was not told of anything,” said a senior official during a media briefing held Tuesday. “I will share something later if it is found necessary.”
Another problem is that the families and survivors were not notified of the Commission’s decision to reinvestigate the issue until the media reported the news on March 31. Eventually, the reinvestigation was canceled after criticism that the petitioner, Shin Sang-chul, did not meet the requirements to be a petition. To become a petitioner, one has to have personally observed the incident or personally heard the truth from someone who observed the incident. This was not the case for Shin. He ran an online media outlet called “Surprise” and was a member of the joint civilian-military investigation team in 2010. He was added to the team at the recommendation of the Democratic Party at the time.
Even after the official investigation concluded that a North Korean torpedo sunk the ship, Shin argued that the conclusion was manipulated and that the government is hiding the actual cause. Senior officials from the Defense Ministry as well as the chief investigator filed lawsuits against him, and he was found guilty in February 2016 and was sentenced to eight months in prison and two years of probation.
However, he was found not guilty by an appeals court in October 2020, and the Prosecutor’s Office appealed the case to the Supreme Court. The Presidential Commission is also facing criticism because the petition was missing the correct information of the fallen sailors, such as their names, resident registration numbers, and ranks, but it still decided to accept the petition and reinvestigate the case.
The Presidential Commission’s decision was met with outrage among the survivors and families of the fallen sailors. “The country has become crazy,” said Chun Joon-young, who is leading a group of Cheonan survivors, on April 1, a day after the news broke. “They say they are trying to find the cause of the death of 46 people. I would like to pour gasoline over my body and die in front of the Blue House.”
Choi Won-il, the Cheonan’s captain, also expressed his anger. “The Presidential Commission decided to reinvestigate after receiving a petition from a conspiracy theorist,” said Choi. “This is the first time that I feel that I don’t want to live anymore after retiring from the military.”
Anger among the survivors and families of victims has deepened under the Moon administration because it failed to clearly point out who was responsible for the sinking. Yoon Chung-ja, who lost her son Master Chief Petty officer Min Pyong-ki, told First Lady Kim Jung-sook, “I don’t like President Moon Jae-in,” during the commemoration event over the sinking of the Cheonan held last month. According to her older son Min Kwang-ki, Yoon pushed away the First Lady, who was trying to hug her, and asked Kim Jung-sook, “Why are you guys so scared of North Korea?”
“What are you so afraid of to hide the fact that North Korea is launching missiles?” she continued. “They fired another one yesterday [March 25].”
During last year’s commemoration event, Yoon directly asked President Moon who was responsible for the sinking of the Cheonan. Moon replied that “the government’s stance is that North Korea is responsible for it.” However, some from the ruling party continued to question the truth about the incident.
On March 26, 2010, 46 South Korean sailors were killed when a torpedo, fired by a North Korean midget submarine, caused the ship to split in half. Another 56 sailors on board the ship were wounded. The joint civilian-military investigation group conclusively blamed the sinking on a North Korean torpedo. The North Korean torpedo had “No.1” written on it in Korean.
Reportedly, the sinking was masterminded by North Korea’s Reconnaissance General Bureau. The South Korean government invited Kim Yo-jong, Kim Jong-un’s younger sister, and Kim Yong-chol, a former head of the Reconnaissance General Bureau, to the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics. The survivors and families of victims were angered by the government’s decision to treat them like VIPs. Kim Yong-chol even said, “I am the man South blames for sinking the Cheonan,” in April 2018 to South Korean media who were visiting Pyongyang for a concert. It was reported that he used it as an icebreaker ahead of the briefing.
North Korea has denied responsibility for the sinking of the Cheonan and even argued that it is a conspiracy or plot created by South Korean conservatives. In April 2018, a spokesperson from the Department of State gave the Voice of America (VOA) the following statement regarding the North Korean newspaper Rodong Sinmun’s similar false claim.
“The report issued May 19, 2010, by the team of international investigators reflects an objective and scientific evaluation of the evidence, which points overwhelmingly to the conclusion that the Cheonan was sunk by a North Korean torpedo fired by a North Korean submarine,” the spokesperson said.
Last year, senior South Korean officials expressed their willingness to ease the so-called May 24 measure, which are the sanctions imposed by South Korea against North Korea in response to the sinking of the Cheonan in 2010. At that time, the VOA interviewed former commanders of U.S. Forces Korea to hear their thoughts on the sinking of the Cheonan.
“The North Koreans owe the ROK an apology for sinking the Cheonan that killed 46 ROK sailors,” said General (Ret.) James Thurman.
General (Ret.) Burwell Bell told VOA that the attack amounted to an act of war. “The sinking of the South Korean corvette warship Cheonan on March 26 2010 was an act of war against South Korea by North Korea,” Bell said. “The subsequent attack on Yeonpyeong Island on 23 November 2010 by North Korea was a direct attack on South Korean sovereign territory wherein four South Koreans were killed. Others were grievously injured. These two attacks were direct, grievous assaults on South Korea.”
