The Norks are Suspected of Sinking South Korean Shipping.

[Sarevok]

Maybe it referred to torpedo boats. North Koreans still use them as a core part of their navy. Surface search radar can detect them long before they close within torpedo range.

[FSTargetDrone]

Am I the only one who has a raised eyebrow at this statement? How is a radar supposed to detect a torpedo under the water?
Using the radar to spot a raised periscope from a submarine I can see but to say that it can detect an incoming torpedo baffles me. Unless the radar men are stationed near the keel in the middle of the ship then that statement makes no sense.

The writer may have merely confused "radar" with "sonar" if the story was actually referring to sonar operators.

[Teebs]

Kim also ruled out a torpedo attack, citing rescued sailors who were manning the radars.

Am I the only one who has a raised eyebrow at this statement? How is a radar supposed to detect a torpedo under the water?
Using the radar to spot a raised periscope from a submarine I can see but to say that it can detect an incoming torpedo baffles me. Unless the radar men are stationed near the keel in the middle of the ship then that statement makes no sense.

It might be a mistranslation or shoddy journalism. What could have been originally said was sensors in general or simply sonar and the journalist immediately took that to mean radar.

[Sea Skimmer]

The North Koreans could potentially do something more complex too, like using a slow moving (and thus very quiet) electrical torpedo to drop mines into the observed ROK patrol routes. The US has had self propelled mines for quite some time, so its not a difficult thing to pull off. The channel of water in question is so narrow a torpedo could easily be fired from land, or from a submarine which sat on the bottom for some time.

[SapphireFox]

Am I the only one who has a raised eyebrow at this statement? How is a radar supposed to detect a torpedo under the water?
Using the radar to spot a raised periscope from a submarine I can see but to say that it can detect an incoming torpedo baffles me. Unless the radar men are stationed near the keel in the middle of the ship then that statement makes no sense.

The writer may have merely confused "radar" with "sonar" if the story was actually referring to sonar operators.

That would actually make more sense to me. Now that I think of it, it might be a shoddy or rushed job translating from Korean into English.

The North Koreans could potentially do something more complex too, like using a slow moving (and thus very quiet) electrical torpedo to drop mines into the observed ROK patrol routes. The US has had self propelled mines for quite some time, so its not a difficult thing to pull off. The channel of water in question is so narrow a torpedo could easily be fired from land, or from a submarine which sat on the bottom for some time.

You really think the Norks would come up with something that and be able to implement it? I would consider it impressive if they did though.

[Sea Skimmer]

You really think the Norks would come up with something that and be able to implement it? I would consider it impressive if they did though.

Why not? They’ve built nukes that produce actual nuclear yield, even if a very limited one, radar sets, submarines and long range ballistic missiles. An electrical torpedo that drops a mine at the end of its run or on command is far simpler then any of those items and basically only requires WW1 technology for a crude version. North Korea has almost nothing but obsolete military technology, but they are still equvilent to a mid to late 1950s military. You can do an awful lot with 1950s equipment, all the more so when you add a limited capability to use digital electronics.

In fact the main mobile mine the US Navy uses (Mk 67 SLMM) is based on a 1950s vintage Mk37 torpedo propulsion system. Russia has a couple similar mobile mines, which North Korea could have obtained directly.

So its not certain North Korea has this kind of capability, but its easily within Norkish grasp should they have wanted it. This is after all why we bother to take North Korea seriously. If they were another decade more obsolete in technology (kicking them back to the late 1940s) we could probably just totally ignore them, but 1950s stuff can do a huge amount of damage if you don’t honor the threat. It’s also the worse that North Korea has fanatically loyal troops with actual training, unlike say Arab nations which tend to have much better equipment then personal to use it, and thus fail horribly in combat.

[SapphireFox]

Wait a minuet you are talking about the torpedo AS a mine aren't you the whole thing looks like a torpedo but at the end of its run it sits and waits at the bottom or some such and when a ship passes over BOOM. If its one of those then it would be very difficult to prove its not a random loose mine unless they find enough casing bits to identify it as one of those torpedo mobile mines. If the Norks got them from Russia or through china then I can see them using them quite a bit near known minefields like IIRC the victim was. Plausible deniability would be something the Norks would appreciate I think.

[Sarevok]

Question is what would North Koreans gain by covertly sinking an old and small ROK corvette. ROK is very wealthy so they can buy another relatively cheap corvette.Their military capability is not hurt one bit. On otherhand destroying a South Korean warship could lead to a war which North Korea will never win.

[FSTargetDrone]

And now a diver has died in the search for the missing crew.

AP video from 2 hours ago.

[The Duchess of Zeon]

The fact that it was within sight of a North Korean military base raises the fascinating possibility that she was hit by a torpedo from a shore defence battery like the KM Blücher was during the invasion of Norway.

[Einzige]

I have a question, slightly off topic, but relatively pertinent to the story nevertheless. If any of the moderators want to split it and any discussion it may generate off somewhere, please do so, but I thought it appropriate to ask here while the attention of the forum was drawn to this issue.

What would the political ramifications be if America and the West simply flooded all of North Korea with goods, il-Jong's protestations to the contrary aside? If we literally ignored our own embargoes against it, and, rejecting its own protectionist policies, simply brought our ships to port at the barrel of a gun? Is this as stupid of an idea as I think it may be?

[Serafina]

I have a question, slightly off topic, but relatively pertinent to the story nevertheless. If any of the moderators want to split it and any discussion it may generate off somewhere, please do so, but I thought it appropriate to ask here while the attention of the forum was drawn to this issue.

What would the political ramifications be if America and the West simply flooded all of North Korea with goods, il-Jong's protestations to the contrary aside? If we literally ignored our own embargoes against it, and, rejecting its own protectionist policies, simply brought our ships to port at the barrel of a gun? Is this as stupid of an idea as I think it may be?

What makes you think that would work?

First, forcing them with the threat of violence would do nothing but escalate the situation, potentially causing a war.
Second, they could just blockade the roads from the ports - unless you are willing to invade or use a lot of airstrikes, there is not much you can do against that.
And without the use of force, you can not bypass the will of the regime.

But what are you going to achieve with that anyway? Brining them democracy in the form of jeans and cola?
You will need more than consumer goods to change such an authoritan regime.

[Sea Skimmer]

Wait a minuet you are talking about the torpedo AS a mine aren't you the whole thing looks like a torpedo but at the end of its run it sits and waits at the bottom or some such and when a ship passes over BOOM.

Yup. It runs out like a torpedo, then sinks and acts as a bottom mine. People have also done work on mobile mines which can drop several different warheads at different points, allowing a larger area to be mined with mines that are harder to detect (because each one is smaller then a whole torpedo body), but I doubt North Korean would have something quite that complicated.

Of course, it’s still entirely possible (if a mine is the true cause of the explosion) that they used some kind of conventionally planted mine by submarine or a small boat. But a mobile mine would have been far less likely to be detected all and all. Submarines make lots more underwater noise, and small boats would be easily detected given the high level of surveillance present.

[SapphireFox]

I thought I had read about mobile mines in my Tom Clancy book on submarines. The book even stated that they were meant for shallow water use and that they could be launched up river from the sea mining river traffic. The place where the victim sank sounds exactly like the type of shallow enviroment to use them effectively.

Speaking of mine types.
Do any other nations have a CAPTOR type of mine, that is a torpedo that is launched from a mine? If they do how likely would it be that the Norks would have them?

[Sea Skimmer]

I thought I had read about mobile mines in my Tom Clancy book on submarines. The book even stated that they were meant for shallow water use and that they could be launched up river from the sea mining river traffic. The place where the victim sank sounds exactly like the type of shallow enviroment to use them effectively.

Yup, its shallow and the distances are short enough to be within range with the mine launched from shore. The North Koreans could slide something like this down off a trailer on boat ramp for launching. Nothing complex required.

Speaking of mine types.
Do any other nations have a CAPTOR type of mine, that is a torpedo that is launched from a mine? If they do how likely would it be that the Norks would have them?

Stuart might know better, but I’ve never heard of any mine which fires a torpedo other then CAPTOR. That is a very very expensive way of making a mine, which really detracts from the whole point of mining which is to be cheap and numerous.

The Russian solution to deep water ASW mining was what’s called a rising mine. These mines can lie on the bottom if the water is only moderately deep, but are more often moored. In 3,000 feet deep water for example one row of the mines might be moored 1,000 feet down and another line 2,000 feet down, and then a last line sitting on the bottom. So each belt of mines covers 1,000 foot of depth. When the mine detects a target passing overhead, it detaches from its mooring, fires a rocket to increase the surfacing rate and uses basic guidance fins to steer into the target as it rises.

So this way you get an ‘area coverage’ in a cone above the mine, though not out to the sides like CAPTOR can do, but for far less money. You don’t need a complex torpedo propulsion system, and you only need a single acoustical sensor (CAPTOR needs two, one for the torpedo guidance system, one on the mine which triggers the torpedo) and you can also have a bigger warhead. That's an important issue when a Mk46 torpedo only has a 100lb charge.

China has some of the Russian rising mine designs, it’s within conception that North Korea has them too but its pretty unlikely and they would not be applicable to shallow water. Plus no one wants to give North Korea modern weapons which they can’t pay for anyway.

I suggest the mobile mine as a possible threat mainly because it’s simple enough for North Korea to build on its own. They’ve already got torpedoes and mines; they merely need to combined technologies. It’s also possible that a mobile mine could release a floating mine, making it even more difficult to back track the source of the mine strike if that is what indeed occurred.

[SapphireFox]

I suggest the mobile mine as a possible threat mainly because it’s simple enough for North Korea to build on its own. They’ve already got torpedoes and mines; they merely need to combined technologies. It’s also possible that a mobile mine could release a floating mine, making it even more difficult to back track the source of the mine strike if that is what indeed occurred.

I have to agree considering the application in this scenario. Mobile mines would be the most likely type of mine given the conditions and depth of the area.

If the divers see that the hull is blown in then it would probably be a mine of some sort if its blown outward then it would have to be an internal explosion it should be fairly obvious once some underwater photos are taken of the ship. Hopefully it isn't an answer that leads to full blown war.

[JointStrikeFighter]

The Orkla went down after burning for eight minutes. It took that long for the fire to gut the ship and that's scary. The primary cause of the loss was that the ship was built of commercial composites that had no fireproofing and the ship's wiring was also commercial grade (it was the stuff one can buy from Home Depot or Wallyworld) and the insulation was both grossly inadequate in quantity and deficient in quality. It is rumored that the same problems afflicted the Skjold class. The absence of fire detection systems in the machinery area in question wasn't really of any significance; the ship was virtually a floating bonfire and a fire detection system would have just made it clear to the accident investigation which area had burned first.

Are not many ships built with commercial standard wiring now Stu? The Absalon comes to mind

[FSTargetDrone]

BBC update:

Page last updated at 08:40 GMT, Wednesday, 31 March 2010 09:40 UK

Weather halts Korea ship search

South Korean search teams have suspended their efforts to reach missing sailors on a sunken warship because of poor weather conditions.

The move comes a day after a diver died searching the wreckage of the Cheonan, which is lying near Baengnyeong Island, close to the border with North Korea.

Forty-six sailors have been missing since an explosion split the ship in two late on Friday.

A minister said the blast could have been caused by a North Korean mine.

A defence ministry spokesman in Seoul told the Yonhap news agency that waves at the rescue site were up to 2m (6ft) high, with winds blowing at 10 knots.

"We are temporarily suspending operations. We cannot expect to get near the ship in this condition," said Won Tae-Jae.

The diver who died, one of dozens trying to gain access to the wreckage, reportedly lost consciousness under water. Yonhap said two of the others were in hospital.

On Tuesday, a navy spokesman said the divers were working in "a very vicious environment" with swift currents and poor visibility.

"Our goal is to get into the ship and find any survivors, but at the moment it is extremely hard to do so," he said.

Military alert

Fifty-eight crew members were rescued as the 1,200-tonne corvette Cheonan sank.

Officials say others could have survived in water-tight cabins in its stern, and oxygen has been piped through cracks in the vessel to increase their chances of survival.

But divers who reached the ship on Monday reported hearing no response when they tapped on the hull.

More than a dozen South Korean ships and a US vessel are involved in the rescue effort.

South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak visited the scene of the wreck on Tuesday and ordered the military onto alert, saying: "Since the sinking took place at the front line, the military should thoroughly prepare for any move by North Korea."

Government officials have also been told not to take leave until tensions over the sunken warship ease.

Defence Minister Kim Tae-Young said the explosion could have been caused by a mine laid by the North during the 1950-53 Korean War - or intentionally sent floating towards the South Korean vessel by the communist state.

The Navy's chief of staff, Kim Sung-Chan, said the ship's ammunition storage room did not appear to have exploded and "the ship was broken in two because of powerful outside pressure or an (exterior) explosion," AFP news agency reported.

But military officials said establishing a definitive cause could have to wait until the ship is salvaged.

Pyongyang has made no official comment on the incident.

It does not accept the maritime border, known as the Northern Limit Line, which was drawn unilaterally by the US-led United Nations Command at the end of the Korean War and has been the scene of deadly clashes between the navies of the two Koreas.

Well, there may not yet be a "definitive cause" but this business of the Navy chief of staff talking about "outside pressure" and that the magazine evidently did not explode is some rather specific information.

[Sea Skimmer]

The Orkla went down after burning for eight minutes. It took that long for the fire to gut the ship and that's scary. The primary cause of the loss was that the ship was built of commercial composites that had no fireproofing and the ship's wiring was also commercial grade (it was the stuff one can buy from Home Depot or Wallyworld) and the insulation was both grossly inadequate in quantity and deficient in quality. It is rumored that the same problems afflicted the Skjold class. The absence of fire detection systems in the machinery area in question wasn't really of any significance; the ship was virtually a floating bonfire and a fire detection system would have just made it clear to the accident investigation which area had burned first.

I don't see how you reach that conclusion. A proper heat sensor would have been set to trip before the fire actually started because the tolerances for the bearings are known. Its not like we didn't have automatic hot bearing detectors for railroads back in the 1930s. All the crew would need to do is turn off the engine and no fire ever breaks out.

[ShadowDragon8685]

So, it seems as if the ship was destroyed up from the outside.


It also looks like South Korea is doing everything humanly possible, short of employing Saddam's minister of propaganda, to avoid blaming the Norkish Horde, up to and including insinuating that it might have been a half-century old mine that did the deed instead of a modern bomb.

I don't think anybody would say that 50-year-old ordinance (heck, hundred-year-old ordinance, don't they still pull up dangerous unexplodedshells from WWI in farmlands in France) isn't still dangerous, but it seems far more likely to be one set loose in modern times.

Are they trying to avoid having a justification to go to war? Why do I get the image of a bunch of bullies sitting behind a concealed torpedo launcher in some tiny cove on the Norkish side of the border, stiffling giggles at how they blew up a South Korean warship and the South is doing everything possible not to say they did it, like bullies who have so intimidated the victim of a mugging that they're standing within earshot of the victim giving the police the report and swearing up and down that he didn't see his attackers and can't identify them.

[Lusankya]

Are they trying to avoid having a justification to go to war? Why do I get the image of a bunch of bullies sitting behind a concealed torpedo launcher in some tiny cove on the Norkish side of the border, stiffling giggles at how they blew up a South Korean warship and the South is doing everything possible not to say they did it, like bullies who have so intimidated the victim of a mugging that they're standing within earshot of the victim giving the police the report and swearing up and down that he didn't see his attackers and can't identify them.

Since they don't want to go to war, it's probably a good bet that they are trying to avoid the justification: even laying aside the fact that North Koreans and South Koreans are still Koreans, and hence 'the same people', Seoul (Korea's capital, business centre and largest city) is only about 80km from the North Korean border, so any serious war would have a high likelihood of severe civilian casualties, and government and financial disruption.

[Shroom Man 777]

Because a war will kill a shitload more people than a sunk boat full of drowned people will, and the Sorks generally do not get a hard on for a whole crapload of dead people?

Also, man. I wonder how people (Americans) would react to the hypothetical scenario of a Chinese/South Korean partitioning of North Korea, where the People's Republic of China bring Truth, Freedom, Justice and Chinese Pies to the Norks and where the Chicoms get to disarm the Norks' WMD program and stop terror and enact nation-building on North Korea. The Americans would probably be so jealous.

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

I have my doubts the US Government has enough stomach to undertake a major war at this point; a war that dwarfs the Iraqi war and the Afghan war combined.

[FSTargetDrone]

Update that warrants continuing this thread, I think...

South Korea says an "external explosion" sunk the ship:

April 15, 2010

South Korea Says Ship Sank After ‘External Explosion’
By CHOE SANG-HUN

SEOUL, South Korea — Officials investigating the mysterious sinking of a South Korean warship in waters disputed by North Korea believe that the ship was hit and torn apart by an “external explosion,” the government announced Friday.

Its first official statement on the cause of the sinking came amid rising official and private speculation over a possible North Korean involvement.

“It was highly likely that it was an external, rather than internal, explosion,” Yoon Duk-yong, head of the government team of military and private investigators, said at a nationally televised news conference.

The news conference came a day after the stern of the ship was lifted out of the water, allowing investigators to look more closely at the damage. Officials also found 36 dead sailors inside, bringing the death toll to 38. Eight sailors remain missing, while 58 were rescued the night the ship sank.

It will take more investigation to determine what and who may have caused the external impact, said Lieutenant General Park Jong-yi. But South Korea’s defense minister, Kim Tae-young, had earlier said that it was investigating the possibility that the 1,200-ton ship, the Cheonan, was hit by a North Korean torpedo or naval mine.

Mr. Yoon said his team found an internal explosion unlikely after studying the salvaged ship. The ship’s munition, fuel tank and gas turbine were intact. The investigators also all but ruled out the possibility of the ship hitting an underwater rock.

South Korea is working together with United States, Australian and Swedish experts.

The result of the investigations, especially if North Korea were found guilty, could have tremendous implications not only for inter-Korean relations but also for international efforts to coax North Korea back to nuclear disarmament talks.

Related story from The Christian Science Monitor, including a picture of the wreckage:

Why South Korea hesitant to blame North Korea in Cheonan ship sinking

South Korean investigators cited an 'external explosion' in the Cheonan ship sinking three weeks ago. The government is moving cautiously toward blaming North Korea, though it appears keen to avoid an escalating crisis.



The stern of the South Korean Cheonan ship is docked on a barge off Baengnyeongdo island near the maritime border with North Korea, northwest of Seoul Friday.

Lee Jung-Hoon/Yonhap/Reuters

By Donald Kirk, Correspondent / April 16, 2010

Seoul, South Korea

Top South Korean officials moved inexorably Friday toward blaming North Korea for the sinking of a Navy ship three weeks ago, in a case in which many see the government's integrity and judgment in the balance.

While South Korea’s defense minister warned of “a grave national security issue,” the government clearly hoped to avoid an escalating crisis that might jeopardize economic success as well as the ability of President Lee Myung-bak to govern effectively.

The government “keeps saying there will be a firm response,” says Han Sung-joo, a former foreign minister and ambassador to the United States, “but that doesn’t mean a military reaction or an eye-for-eye response.”

Defense Minister Kim Tae-young sought to end suspicions among South Koreans of a cover-up as investigators sifted through the wreckage of the stern of the ship in which dozens of sailors were trapped. The bodies of most of the 46 victims were recovered from that section, which broke off in the explosion, while 58 others in the forward portion escaped.

Yoon Duk-yong, one of the lead investigators, said the ship seemed to have been sunk by “an external explosion,” not by ammunition or fuel blowing up. A former South Korean submarine captain, Jung Sung, wrote in a newspaper here that it was “highly likely that a torpedo fired from a submarine or mine destroyed the ship.”

Mr. Kim promised to make public the results of the investigation “without leaving a dot of suspicion” – and then “work out the next step in a clear and stern manner.”

Unease over 'next step'

It’s that “next step,” however, that leaves many Koreans suspicious and wary.

“The South Korean government faces a dilemma,” says Ryoo Kihl-jae, professor at the University of North Korean Studies here. “We want countermeasures, but now we have just tensions. Maybe the government is in a very narrow space and doesn’t have lots of choice.”

Mr. Ryoo cites a long history of North Korean provocations. These range from a raid by North Korean troops on the Blue House, the center of presidential power in Seoul, in early 1968, to the assassination of 16 South Koreans and three Burmese by a bomb intended for South Korea’s former president, Chun Doo-hwan, on a visit to Burma in October 1983.

“We did not take any action,” he says. “I do not think the government can have such a response. The government cannot do a lot.”

Ryoo acknowledges, though, that South Koreans are angry at the failure of South Korean forces to have been able to prevent whatever it was that blew up the vessel, a 1,200-ton corvette named the Cheonan. That vessel, and others like it, have been on constant patrol for years just south of the Northern Limit Line in the West or Yellow Sea, below which the South insists all North Korean vessels are banned.

He expects government will try to fend off popular outrage by upgrading defenses. “The government will be willing to supplement the current military defense system in a crisis situation,” he says. “This incident can be a useful opportunity to improve the system. It is a very serious lesson.”

Don't disrupt economic progress

A major consideration, though, is that no South Korean leader can afford to jeopardize the country’s steady economic progress. While much of the rest of the world has been writhing in economic malaise, the South Korean economy continues to grow. The gross national product this year is now expected to increase by five percent over that of last year.

“In the past decades after the Korean War, we have had many provocations,” says Ryoo, “but we still achieved rapid economic growth.”

Given that accomplishment, however, the sense among many Koreans is the Lee government will find a reason not to hold North Korea definitively responsible for the Cheonan incident. Investigators, for instance, may conclude that the wreckage still does not offer irrefutable evidence that the vessel was torn apart by a North Korean mine or torpedo.

“Of course President Lee is trying to cover up,” argues Jung Han-jin, a businessman. “I don’t think he’s going to expose the real trouble. It will have too much impact on his popularity. It’s not only embarrassing, it’s a serious hole in our defenses.”

Lee Chong-chang, a retired ambassador, believes Lee has wanted to play down the explosion for the sake of his role as a global leader.

“He’s worried about the G20 summit,” says Mr. Lee, referring to the gathering of the leaders of the leading 20 economic powers that Lee will host here in November.”That’s a big mistake. This is nonsense.”

Addendum:

A better story from Stars and Stripes describing more of the initial findings in detail:

Investigators: External explosion likely sunk South Korean ship

By Ashley Rowland and Hwang Hae-rym, Stars and Stripes

Stars and Stripes online edition, Friday, April 16, 2010

SEOUL — An investigator said Friday that an external explosion likely sank a South Korean patrol ship last month, heightening fears that the blast that ripped the 1,200-ton Cheonan in half was deliberately caused by North Korea.

The March 26 explosion near the maritime border with North Korea killed at least 38 crew members, most of them in their 20s and serving their conscripted military service. Eight crew members remain missing. Fifty-eight were rescued after the explosion.

A spokesman for South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense said the investigation team needed more time to determine if a mine or torpedo caused the explosion — two possibilities that have been suggested by South Korean Defense Minister Kim Tae-young. The spokesman said it was impossible to know how long the investigation would last.

The team said it was unlikely that the blast was caused by an internal explosion, hitting a reef or “fatigue fracture” caused by structural weakness.

Investigators had their first look at the ship above water on Thursday after it was pulled up by crane. An initial visual check of the stern showed no damage inside the ammunition stockpile room, fuel tank, or diesel engine room, the spokesman said. There was also no trace of fire in the gas turbine room, and all electric cables were found in good condition, he said.

Eight American analysts — four servicemembers and four civilians — are part of the investigation team.

As of Friday afternoon, the bodies of 36 crew members had been found inside the ship’s water-filled stern after it was pulled from the Yellow Sea. Two bodies were previously found inside the ship while it was underwater.

The Defense Ministry spokesman said the bodies of the missing crew members were likely inside the ship’s bow, which could be pulled up next week. The bow is located about four miles from where the stern settled, and U.S. dive teams have been searching the ocean floor between them looking for debris from the explosion.

South Korea’s defense minister, said Friday during a press conference that the government believes the sinking is “a grave national security issue.”

“This navy ship may have been sunk by a power intending to threaten our national security,” the ministry spokesman said.

When asked if that power was North Korea, he declined to elaborate.

U.S. Forces Korea spokesman David Oten had no comment.

Officials had hoped in the days after the sinking that crew members had been able to seal their cabins and survive on an air supply expected to last 69 hours. But the Defense Ministry spokesman said it appeared the sailors had all drowned, though most of the victims’ families were opposed to conducting autopsies that would conclusively determine when and how the sailors died.

Many South Koreans hold the Confucian belief that damaging a body through an autopsy or other means inflicts a second death upon the deceased.

Family members identified the sailors’ bodies on Thursday and Friday, which — even after three weeks in the sea — were easily identifiable because their bodies had been preserved by the cold temperatures and salt water, the spokesman said.

Funeral plans will not be set until the bow is lifted from the water. If the missing eight sailors, whose bodies may have been destroyed in the blast, are not found, they will receive funerals, the spokesman said.

The stern will be taken to a naval base in Pyeongtaek for further investigation.

[FSTargetDrone]

Dammit, too late to add to my above post...

Compare a slightly reduced-in-size picture of the salvaged stern of the Cheonan with that of a reversed image of the Iri (Cheonan's sister ship of the same class) as seen on page one of this thread and the scale of the destruction is quite stark: