I’m now in full skeptic mode about the Cheonan sinking. A commenter on the Diane Rehm Show board, ohmyeconomics, sent me a link to this “Letter to Hillary Clinton, U.S. Secretary of State“, in response to a query for information on alternative theories about the sinking of ROKS Cheonan. I was really interested in the part about US naval intelligence, but this is enough for me right now to consider.

I am S.C. Shin, a civil investigator recommended by Korean National Assembly for the sinking of Cheonan and I’m writing this letter to let you know the truth exactly here in Korea.

…I didn’t agree with the conclusion of the Korean military administration and now sued for libel by them. Can you imagine this situaton? I was the only person stood on the opposite position. That’s the only reason I am sued. I cannot understand how this happens in a democratic country in the world.

…The Military Administration made a conclusion that Cheonan had torn in two and sunken by the ‘Explosion of Torpedo’. But my oppinion is quite different from it because I could not find even a slight sign of ‘Explosion’ but could find so many evidences of grounding in/out of the vessel. I want to ask you fully understood that a tiny voice for the truth may prevent unexpected disaster and assure the safety of 70 million people in Korean Peninsula.

Well, I’m going to tell you about the circumstances which Baengnyeong-do is located in and especially about the geometric background with natural environment, critical for vessels sailing this area.

Shin – who, according to this commenter, is Shin Sang-cheol, goes on to make his case, with photographs and maps. Looking through the comments board on the Seoprise site, I found Matt Ceighton’s blog at American Everyman. Creighton makes his case against the official version.

So lets take a look at all the “overwhelming” and “irrefutable” evidence. 1. Someone wrote “number 1.” on one single piece of the salvaged torpedo… 2. they claim the torpedo remains are a “perfect match” of a North Korean type of weapon, a “CHT-02D” torpedo. This conclusion was reached via an international research team from US, the UK, Australia, and Sweden. Here is their May 20th, 2010 report. In the report, they make the following conclusion;

The torpedo parts recovered at the site of the explosion by a dredging ship on May 15th, which include the 5×5 bladed contra-rotating propellers, propulsion motor and a steering section, perfectly match the schematics of the CHT-02D torpedo included in introductory brochures provided to foreign countries by North Korea for export purposes. The markings in Hangul, which reads “1번(or No. 1 in English)”, found inside the end of the propulsion section, is consistent with the marking of a previously obtained North Korean torpedo.

…Based on all such relevant facts and classified analysis, we have reached the clear conclusion that ROKS ”Cheonan” was sunk as the result of an external underwater explosion caused by a torpedo made in North Korea. The evidence points overwhelmingly to the conclusion that the torpedo was fired by a North Korean submarine. There is no other plausible explanation. Investigation on the Sinking of the Cheonan

That’s it. That’s all their “evidence” that the international investigators presented in their UNSIGNED report. That’s right, no one knows who the “investigators” were since they didn’t take the time to sign their work.

Creighton;s site led me to Democratic Underground, which lists twelve reasons for skepticism.

And then, I discovered that Robert Neff had scooped me, with some subtle character assassination of Creighton and a Don Kirk editorial with a tepid, straw man argument tossed to skeptics. Overall, Neff treats it all like a circus freak show. But, even Reuters and Germany’s Der Spiegel know a rotten fish when they see it.

Read all the data for yourself, and decide.

Filed under: East Asia, Korea, Maritime, Military, USA Tagged: c.s. shin, cheonan, dprk, north korea, rok, seoprise, the diane rehm show, torpedo