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30 May 2010
Translated into
Chinese by Admin
Did An American Mine Sink
South Korean Ship? (3)
by Yoichi Shimatsu
Former editor of the Japan
Times, now an environmental consultant
and a commentator on Asian affairs for
CCTV-9 Dialogue
(News Analysis
Media)
The initial South Korean
review stated that the explosive was
gunpowder, which would conform to North
Korea's crude munitions. This claim was
later overturned by the inquiry board,
which found the chemical residues to be
similar to German advanced explosives.
Due to sanctions against Pyongyang and
its few allies, it is hardly credible
that North Korea could obtain NATO-grade
ordnance.
一开始南朝鲜宣称爆炸物是火药，这倒也符合北朝鲜比较落后的武器装备状况。但后来南朝鲜又改口说，经过调查，他们发现了与德制先进的爆炸物相似的化学残迹。鉴于北约对平壤的制裁现实，实在很难让人相信北朝鲜会有能力搞到北约的战略物资。
Thus, the mystery centers
on the USNS Salvor, which happened to be
yet right near Byeongyang Island at the
time of the Cheonan sinking and far from
its home base, Pearl Harbor. The inquiry
board in Seoul has not questioned the
officers and divers of the Salvor, which
oddly is not under the command of the 7th
Fleet but controlled by the
innocuous-sounding Military Sealift
Command. Diving-support ships like the
Salvor are closely connected with the
Office of Naval Intelligence since their
duties include secret operations such as
retrieving weapons from sunken foreign
ships, scouting harbor channels and
laying mines, as when the Salvor trained
Royal Thai Marine divers in mine-laying
in the Gulf of Thailand in 2006, for
example.
The Salvor's presence
points to an inadvertent release of a
rising mine, perhaps because its
activation system was not switched off. A
human error or technical glitch is very
much within the realm of possibility due
to the swift current and strong tides
that race through the Byeongnyeong
Channel. The arduous task of mooring the
launch platforms to the sea floor allows
the divers precious little time for
double-checking the electronic systems.
那么疑点就只能落到美国海军打捞船上了，当时该船正远离自己的老家珍珠港而神秘地在天安号沉没的平南岛附近出没。奇怪的是，调查组并没有提问打捞船上的军官或驾驶，打捞船也奇怪的不属于第七舰队的管辖，而属于听起来似乎无关痛痒的海军运输队。由于带有潜水员的打捞船通常负有秘密的特殊任务，比如收集敌方沉舰上的武器、察探港湾通道情况及埋置水雷等，它们与海军情报部的关系非常密切。
打捞船或许因忘了关掉启动开关而不小心激活了一枚上浮水雷。由于平南岛周围水域水流湍急、潮汐巨大，人为事故或技术故障发生的可能性非常高。在那样的条件下固定水雷发射台是极其不容易的，潜水员常常没有足够的时间来重复检查电力系统。
If indeed it was an
American rising mine that sank the
Cheonan, it would constitute a
friendly-fire accident. That in itself is
not grounds for a criminal investigation
against the presidential office and, at
worst, amounts only to negligence by the
military. However, any attempt to falsify
evidence and engage in a media cover-up
for political purposes constitutes
tampering, fraud, perjury and possibly
treason.
如果天安号果然是被美国的上浮水雷炸毁的，这属于友军间擦枪走火,
事故本身不足以让奥巴马总统府受到刑事调查，最多军方会被控以疏忽罪。但是，为了政治目的做假证、利用媒体造谣就属于犯了蔑视宪法罪、欺诈罪、伪证罪甚至于叛国罪。
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