London Korean Links

Covering things Korean in London and beyond since 2006

Official story on the Cheonan fails to convince many

by Philip Gowman posted updated 15 Feb 2022
in | . < 1 minute read

Cheonan

My London Korean friends are obviously not alone in doubting that the DPRK sunk the Cheonan: only 32.5% more or less trust the findings of the international enquiry http://bit.ly/cDdWhE #

One thought on “Official story on the Cheonan fails to convince many”

    • Jiyoung Song: Of course not. We’re never alone, but I wouldn’t read Chosun for this news. Another revealing comment from the former US Ambassador to Korea and national security adviser to Bush senior. See this article in the NT Times.
    • Philip: Thanks. I saw that particular anonymous quote at the Marmot’s Hole (comment #11) today and wondered where it came from. (So, do I believe the first-hand public statements of the Swedish and British ambassadors in support of a published report (when Swedish and British experts were directly involved in the investigation), or do I give credence to second-hand newspaper quote from an unnamed Russian in relation to an unpublished report which only had secondary access to the evidence…?)
      I was surprised, surfing the Korean news websites, that it was only the Chosun that reported the survey. Couldn’t see anything about it in the Hanky (once their front page had loaded).
    • Jiyoung: I’m surprised that you couldn’t find anything other than Chosun. There have been many of this sort of doubt from the other band of newspapers such as Hani (Hankyoreh), OhMyNews or Presian, all only in Korean, ever since the incident. There is a book about questioning the Cheonan incident as well, which I haven’t read. Let me list some of these here, but I guess you don’t read Korean, do you?: OhMyNews | Hankyoreh | Yahoo | Book.
      There, Hani says only 32% of Koreans believe the SK government’s report on Chonan (see the middle of the page linked above).
      I’m glad that the British and Swedish ambassadors have more faith in the SK government than Koreans themselves. However, I’m not so sure whether it’s also good that Hague said the UK was committed to working closely with the ROK when he talked to the former Foreign Minister Yu Myung Hwan who was quite busy trying to hire his daughter for a mid-level post in his office.
    • Philip: Thanks – I’ve seen loads of doubting articles in many places, including one source which positions itself as academic. But as far as I can see the Chosun is the only paper to have covered the survey in English (sorry – should have specified that to start with): strange – I usually only go to the Chosun for lightweight stuff like celebrity news.

Comments are closed.