UPDATE: 03-26-2010 06:30PM
Via Washington Post:
A South Korean naval ship sank near the disputed maritime border with North Korea, killing some of the more than 100 crew on board, but officials played down suggestions that it may have been attacked by the North.
A defense ministry official later said that the unidentified object the vessel had fired at on Friday night near the western sea border that divides the two Koreas may well have been a flock of birds.
ORIGINALLY POSTED 03-26-2010 10:28AM
From the AP:
South Korea’s military scrambled naval vessels to the western waters near the disputed maritime border with North Korea late Friday after an explosion ripped a hole in the bottom of a military ship, officials and news reports said.
The ship – reported to have 104 crew on board – began sinking off the coast of South Korean-controlled Baengnyeong Island close to North Korea around 10:45 p.m. (1345 GMT, 9:45 a.m. EDT), an official at the Joint Chiefs of Staff said, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with department policy.
He said the exact cause was not immediately clear. South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported an explosion in the rear of the 1,200-ton ship, but the official said he could not confirm the report.
Minutes later, Yonhap reported that another South Korean ship fired shots toward an unidentified target in the direction of North Korea. The Joint Chiefs official said he could not confirm the shooting but said the military was strengthening its vigilance in the area.
Via the Washington Post:
South Korea’s YTN TV network said the government was investigating whether the sinking was due to a torpedo attack by the North, and Yonhap news agency said the Seoul government had convened an emergency meeting of security-related ministers.
Yonhap also reported a South Korean navy ship firing toward an unidentified vessel to the north.
Let’s hope this was an on-board accident and not a torpedo attack.
Perfect timing to ramp up global strife with two obvious benefits:
1) Distract attention away from health care and the pending amnesty, which I expect by summer.
2) Keep money flowing to the military industrial complex
It’s a win-win!
There is a potential that something may start from there.
My only concern is that the North Korean president is a psycho.
I mean the actions of Talibans, Iraqis, or Iranians have some strange logic.
The Korean guy is totally bye-bye. Nobody is threatening him, his people are dying like dogs, the country is a mess, and he has the biggest collection of movies for his pleasure.
That’s weird man.
North Korea is not crazy enough to go to war with South Korea because one South Korea’s military is just as large as North Korea’s and is very much more powerful. Two it would draw in the US and that would be very bad. China doesn’t like North Korea much anymore and would not step in a war like this unless we reach all the way to Pyongyang. Nothing will not happen its probably an accident or a friendly fire from other ships. North Korea knows that is a war they would inflict heavy losses on the ROK’s but in the end they would lose in a war like this. So as I said nothing will happen.
Comments….. During the Korean war there were thousands of tethered and floating mines in the seas surrounding the Korean Peninsula. Likely as many or more put there in WWII. It wouldn’t surprise me a bit if this ship hit one. the North Koreans deployed some 300+ by floating them down rivers to the sea after the South and it’s coalition of allies had effective control of Naval waters east, West and South of the Peninsula.
It could have been an operation of a third party. China has several merchant ports on the west shore of the yellow sea. If they are buying oil or exporting goods to Iran the South Korean navy could be collecting intelligence of this activity.
Mardochee:   Thats the point exactly. NK is ruled by a madman. 10,000 artillery pieces can deliver a couple rounds per minute each.
Soul can be reduced to rubbish during a television commercial break.
Let’s not forget that , and NK has stated this, if a war is declared and SK’s allies come to its aid, as in the US, then nuclear warfare will be used.
NK has 10,000 long range artillery pieces trained on Seoul and could reduce it to rubble in about 15 minutes …. during a coffee break ….. or a long “meditation” in the “can”.
NK and Iran have hooked up, trading missile and nuke technology. Soon they will create a Treaty to defend each other in the event of war with the US.
Both have industrial capacity enrichment capabilities now and are mass producing material for hundreds of warheads; which they are now manufacturing. The Iranians have mastered computer simulation of nuke weapon design, development, and detonation. They only need to actually test one warhead to be operational with hundreds of nuclear capable missiles. Likewise now for NK.
They are only waiting for weakness from the “paper tiger”. That weakness comes on 524 402 925 TCA.