South Korean officials ordered out of border factory

South Korean Army’s K-1 tanks fire during a live fire drill at a firing range near the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas in Yeoncheon, north of Seoul, May 25, 2010. North Korea said on Tuesday it would take military action if the South continued to violate its waters off the peninsula’s west coast. The two Koreas have been in a tense standoff over a disputed maritime border in the Yellow Sea which was the scene of a torpedo attack that sank a South Korean navy ship in March.

SEOUL – North Korea Wednesday ordered South Korean government personnel to leave their joint factory complex in the North Korean border town of Kaesong, a top official said, even as tensions between the two countries flared over the sinking of a South Korean warship in March.

The eight South Korean officials, however, told North Korean authorities that they would not be able to leave by the noon deadline because they needed time to pack up, Chun Hae-sung, South Korean unification ministry spokesperson, was quoted as saying by Yonhap news agency.

The North Korean order came a day after the country said it would expel the officials from the factory in Kaesong, where around 110 South Korean firms have hired over 42,000 North Korean workers to manufacture goods.

Relations between the two countries have deteriorated rapidly since last week after a team of international experts said the March 26 sinking of a South Korean warship in the Yellow Sea was caused by a torpedo released by a North Korean submarine. Forty-six crew members died in the incident.

Pyongyang, has however, denied any role in the sinking. After South Korea announced trade bans Monday and said it would approach the UN Security Council over the matter, the North announced its own set of counter-actions Tuesday, including cutting all ties with the South.

North Korean rhetoric escalates

As threats of all-out war continue, North Korea’s news agency KCNA has posted several new releases aimed at the “puppet regime” in South Korea.

Stating that the South “far-fetchedly tried to link the case with us without offering any material evidence … in a bid to mislead the public opinion inside and outside Korea,” they demand that “the group of traitors produce … material evidence” and “that there should not be a shred of doubt”.

The North goes on to escalate their threats of war on Seoul. “The all-out war to be undertaken by us will be a sacred war involving the whole nation, all the people and the whole state for completely eliminating the strongholds of the group of traitors.”

The DPRK calls upon the South Korean people to revolt against the current government. The situation “urgently requires the people to turn out in the struggle against dictatorship” says one KCNA statement.

The statements are peppered throughout with references to nuclear threats, ultra-conservative South Koreans, and the aim of global domination on the part of the US. But most of all, they remind the world of their willingness to go to war.

“We will brand any small incident that occurs in the territorial waters, air and land where our sovereignty is exercised including the West Sea of Korea as a provocation of confrontation maniacs and react to it with unlimited retaliatory blow, merciless strong physical blow. It is our invariable iron will to react to “retaliation” with more powerful retaliation and to “punishment” with indiscriminate punishment of our style. Availing ourselves of this opportunity, we sternly warn the U.S. and Japanese authorities and riff-raffs, their poor lackeys, to act with discretion.”

“All the fellow countrymen will never pardon the clique of traitors, which finds fault with fellow countrymen, though it has committed so hideous acts of treachery, and gets frantic with the scheme to bring the dark clouds of a nuclear war, but mete out a stern punishment to it on behalf of the nation.”

Tank company, ROKA 15th div are moving through Kaesungri range before sabot discharge

Torpedo accusation raises Korean security stakes

South Korean Rear Adm. Park Jung-Soo talks in front of the wreckage of the naval vessel Cheonan on May 20 in Pyeongtaek, South Korea. (Song Kyung-seok / Getty Images)

After weeks of investigation and leaks, the announcement that North Korea killed 46 South Korean sailors sets the stage for more hostile relations.

By John M. Glionna Los Angeles Times

May 19, 2010 | 11:54 p.m.

Reporting from Seoul

Following weeks of investigation, leaked evidence and diplomatic huddles, South Korea on Thursday publicly accused North Korea of firing a torpedo that sank a naval patrol ship and killed 46 crewmen in March, significantly raising the security stakes on an already tense Korean Peninsula.

The international community responded with concern and condemnation for Kim Jong Il’s isolationist regime. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called the case “deeply troubling,” and Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd insisted that the North’s “hostile and unprovoked act” should be met with swift and immediate retaliation.

Yet troublesome questions remain: What response can the South and its allies, including the U.S., give to warn North Korea against further provocations without inciting continued violence? Denying culpability, Pyongyang has already rattled its sabers, warning that any retaliation would lead to “all-out war.”

The U.S Thursday stood behind South Korea, with the White House issuing a statement that said the “act of aggression is one more instance of North Korea’s unacceptable behavior and defiance of international law.”

Citing what it called overwhelming evidence, a joint civilian-military multinational team determined that fragments and markings from a torpedo found amid the wreckage of the downed naval vessel matched that of a North Korean-made weapon already in the South’s possession.

The report concluded that “there is no other plausible explanation” than the North’s involvement.

North Korea on Thursday called the probe’s findings a “fabrication” and said it would send its own inspection team to the South to consider the evidence, according to a statement released through the North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency. It wasn’t clear whether the South would allow such a trip.

Analysts predict that the cold war between North and South is about to get a lot colder.

SIXX: SORRY PROFESSOR YIN-HAY, THIS MEANS WAR.

AMERICA, AUSTRAILLA, JAPAN, AND SOUTH KOREA

AGAINST CHINA AND NORTH KOREA.

“While a military war is less likely, I think an all-out economic war is certain,” said Ahn Yin-hay, an international studies professor at Korea University in Seoul. “Relations between North and South will reach a stalemate. The U.S. may even put North Korea on its terrorist list again. But all this means that relations between the U.S. and South Korea with be strengthened.”

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak has vowed to take “stern action,” including severing most or all economic aid to the North. Lee called an emergency security meeting for Friday, pledging to augment naval forces and sensors along the disputed maritime boundary between North and South where the sinking occurred.

South Korea said it would also ask the U.N. Security Council to issue a strong rebuke and impose financial penalties against Pyongyang.

Still, there remains no worldwide consensus on how or even whether to punish North Korea, with China seemingly unwilling to fully commit to sanctions.

Cui Tiankai, China’s vice minister of foreign affairs, on Thursday called the Cheonan sinking “unfortunate,” but stopped short of backing Seoul in the dispute. He instead reiterated the need to maintain peace on the Korean Peninsula.

Fearing that a collapse of the neighboring regime would wreak havoc along its border, China has walked a delicate line with the North, refusing to turn its back on a longtime ally, analysts say.

“China has always been the weak link in punishing Pyongyang, and Beijing will react with its customary call for caution and restraint,” said Bruce Klingner, a northeast Asia expert at the Heritage Foundation think tank in Washington. “But a blatant North Korean provocation such as the sinking of the Cheonan could provide South Korea and the U.S. with sufficient leverage to get Beijing to agree to some stronger measures against North Korea.”

During a trip to Beijing earlier this month, Kim reportedly failed to receive the customary assurances of continued economic aid, a sign that China’s unconditional support for its neighbor may be weakening.

South Korean scholars say the hard evidence of a North Korean torpedo may force China’s hand.

“It will be very hard for China to oppose [punishing the North] because of the smoking gun,” said Yun Duk-min, a professor at the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security in Seoul. “China is now puzzled and in an awkward situation.”

Korea University’s Ahn said China has to be sensitive to North Korea’s needs.

“China is the only country that can support North Korea from collapse,” she said. “And Beijing officials know that in order to maintain its influence on the Korean Peninsula, they have to hear out North Korea’s demands.”

Analysts say the stormy political waters stirred up by the Cheonan controversy will delay any restart of the six-nation talks to disarm North Korea’s nuclear arsenal. North Korea abandoned the talks in late 2008 and has since conducted at least one underground nuclear test.

“The six-party talks have gone down the drain,” said Kim Keun-sik, a political science professor at Kyungnam University outside Seoul. “China will not support South Korea on [the Cheonan] matter. So, we’re back to North Korea and China versus South Korea and the U.S.

“The landscape of confrontation during the Cold War era is expected to appear again.”

john.glionna@latimes.com

Ju-min Park, a researcher in the Times’ Seoul Bureau, contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2010, The Los Angeles Times

South Korean official says ‘it’s obvious’ North Korea sank ship

SEOUL, South Korea — The foreign minister of South Korea said Wednesday that “it’s obvious” that one of its warships was sunk by a North Korean torpedo, adding that his country now has enough evidence of a military strike to seek action by the U.N. Security Council.

Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan’s remarks were the first by a South Korean official to pin definitive blame on the government of Kim Jong Il for the March incident, which killed 46 sailors and sharply escalated tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

Yu spoke out a day before his government was to release the results of an investigation that U.S. and East Asian officials say has uncovered evidence that North Korea launched a torpedo that ripped apart the 1,200-ton Cheonan near a disputed sea border between the two nations.

Details of the investigation have dribbled out this week in government leaks to U.S. and South Korean media. It was reported Wednesday that investigators have concluded that North Korea attacked the warship with a Chinese-made torpedo. North Korea imported the weapon — a heavy acoustic-homing torpedo known as a Yu-3G — from China in the 1980s, government officials told Yonhap, the South Korean news agency.

When the investigation’s findings are released today, there will be a computer simulation of a 550-pound warhead striking the Cheonan, Yonhap said.

North Korea denied this week that it had any involvement in sinking the

ship and warned that it would not tolerate “warmongering schemes of the puppet regime of South Korea.”

South Korea briefs China on ship sinking blamed on North

South Korea’s foreign minister says it is “obvious” that North Korea sank a South Korean naval ship in March

(Reuters) – South Korea has briefed the Chinese ambassador on its findings on the sinking of a navy ship widely believed to be the work of North Korea, an issue that has created tension between the two major Asian trading partners.

World |  South Korea |  North Korea

South Korea is certain to formally lay the blame on the North on Thursday when it announces the findings by a team of experts that includes investigators from Sweden, Australia and the United States.

China, host of on-again, off-again six-party talks aimed at reining in North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, is the reclusive state’s only major ally and is loath to penalize it for wrongs perceived in South Korea and the West.

China irritated South Korea earlier this month by hosting the North Korean leader Kim Jong-il on a rare trip abroad before the outcome of the investigation was announced.

Chinese Ambassador to South Korea Zhang Xinsen has been quoted as saying in local media that there did not appear to be clear evidence the North was the culprit in the March 26 attack off the Korean peninsula’s west coast that killed 26 sailors. Zhang was among a small group of ambassadors who were briefed on the outcome of the probe on Tuesday, before a larger group is invited on Wednesday to receive the information, the Foreign Ministry said.It did not provide details on Zhang’s response. There was no answer to calls made to the Chinese Embassy in Seoul.

South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan told a group of European businessmen that the government had concluded that a torpedo sunk the ship.

“Assessments of the (investigators) indicates a strong underwater explosion generated by the detonation of a torpedo caused the Korean battle ship to split apart and sink,” he said.

When asked by reporters if the North had sunk the ship, Yonhap news agency quoted Yu as saying: “I believe that’s certainly the case.”

South Korea’s Defense Ministry on Wednesday was taking a group of journalists to a navy port to display the wreckage of the 1,200-tonne corvette Cheonan.

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi told the foreign ministers of South Korea and Japan at the weekend that any conclusions must be based on scientific and objective evidence, in contrast to a more sympathetic response by Japan’s Katsuya Okada who expressed his support for Seoul’s efforts to probe the sinking.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will visit Seoul on May 26 in what analysts view as a show of solidarity with the long-time U.S. ally.

A group of defectors from the North is planning to drop 200,000 leaflets from a remote island bordering the North on Thursday, with details of the Cheonan sinking incident, a leader of the group said.

(Additional reporting by Christine Kim; Editing by Nick Macfie)

SKorea ship sinking may be perfect crime for North

SEOUL, South Korea – For North Korea, the deadly sinking of a South Korean warship a month ago may end up being the perfect crime.

Investigators have yet to produce proof that North Korea engineered the ship’s demise, but analysts say even if they do, Seoul won’t risk triggering another costly war by striking back militarily.

And if there’s no evidence pointing to North Korea, its government may still quietly claim it as a victory to bolster support at home.

As South Korea honored the 46 dead sailors in an emotional farewell Thursday, the question of what struck the Cheonan remained unsolved, casting a pall over North Korea’s relationships with Seoul and Washington and calling into question the future of stalled six-nation nuclear disarmament talks.

The 1,200-ton Cheonan was on a routine patrol mission in the waters near the Koreas’ maritime border when an explosion ripped the sturdy frigate in two. Fifty-eight sailors were rescued; 46 others perished.

The South Korean military was careful early on not to cast suspicion on North Korea, even though the Yellow Sea has been the site of three bloody skirmishes between the two countries, most recently in November. One North Korean was killed in that clash, South Korea said.

Military experts laid out the possibilities: a weapon stored on board? Collision with a rock, a mine left over from the Korean War? Or was it a torpedo fired from a submarine that went undetected by the ship’s sophisticated radars?

Defectors claiming knowledge of North Korean military operations called it sabotage, describing naval squads in slow-moving submarines outfitted with torpedoes. North Korea denied involvement.

The day the ship’s damaged stern was raised from the waters, the chief investigator offered a damaging initial assessment: an underwater explosion.

The investigation still under way, the defense minister said Sunday that an outside explosion — probably created by a torpedo blast near the ship — appeared probable.

The next morning, President Lee Myung-bak vowed tearfully that Seoul would respond “resolutely and unwaveringly” against the perpetrators.

South Koreans are demanding retaliation if North Korea was the culprit.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il “will pay for what he’s done,” one person wrote on an unsigned note posted on a mourning wall in Seoul. “The blood of the Cheonan warriors stains your hands,” read another addressed to Kim.

Sirens wailed at the start of the funeral south of Seoul on Thursday. The president, his lips pursed, held a fist to his chest during the national anthem. Mothers dropped to their knees in grief before their sons’ portraits.

“We cannot forgive this, must not forgive it and must not forget it,” said Navy Adm. Kim Sung-chan. “We will never sit by idly as this kind of pain is inflicted on our people. We will track them down to the end and make them pay.”

But military officials and experts say the investigation could take weeks, months, even years.

“Investigators don’t want to make any mistakes, especially in such a politically charged atmosphere,” said Joseph S. Bermudez Jr., a senior analyst for London-based Jane’s Information Group. He said experts would need to examine the wreckage for chemical residue and fragments, and analyze the local tides and currents for the previous 30 days — a time-consuming process.

And even if investigators find a smoking gun — a fragment of a North Korean torpedo, for example — Seoul has few good options for retaliation.

“Nonmilitary responses might lead the North to conclude that it could kill South Koreans with impunity,” said John Pike, director of the GlobalSecurity.org defense website based in Alexandria, Virginia. “And the military responses run the risk of further escalation.”

No one wants full-scale war on the Korean peninsula, not even the North Koreans, who know their outdated equipment is no match against state-of-the-art U.S. and South Korean artillery.

Launching a military attack wouldn’t even be up to the South Korean military; they must defer to the U.S.-led United Nations Command, the force monitoring the Korean armistice signed in 1953.

Lee’s only recourse: to squeeze and punish North Korea with sanctions, pressing the U.S. and the U.N. Security Council to follow suit, said Yang Moo-jin of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.

North Korea has struck repeatedly over the years. In 1967, it bombarded a naval ship with artillery, killing 39 South Korean sailors. In 1968, commandos stormed the presidential mansion in a failed bid to assassinate the president; seven South Koreans died.

In 1983, a bombing in Burma that killed 21 people but narrowly missed the South Korean president was blamed on North Korea, and in 1987, explosives blew up an airliner with 115 people on board — the worst attack on South Korea since the war and allegedly masterminded by Kim Jong Il himself.

Analysts say if North Korea did wage an attack, it may be part of a political campaign for Kim Jong Il’s successor.

Now 68 and reportedly ailing, Kim is believed to be grooming his son Jong Un to take the communist dynasty into a third generation. Very little is known about the son, both inside and outside Pyongyang, and the regime’s PR machine is likely working overtime to build up his reputation as well as consolidate loyalty for the Kim family.

There are hints of unrest in the notoriously reclusive nation. Millions are going hungry, and sweeping reforms meant to clamp down on private commerce reportedly sparked rare protests. Even the relatively well-fed military is suffering from malnutrition, defector Im Chen-young, a former People’s Army officer, told reporters this week.

If Seoul finds no evidence, North Korean military leaders could still use the sinking to boost troops’ morale by quietly calling it retaliation for the November naval skirmish; credit for the surreptitious mission would go to the heir-to-be, analysts said.

“Factors like Kim Jong Il aging, the economic crisis and internal power struggles intensifying within the government — they’ve put the North Korean regime at the risk of collapse,” the Rev. Kim Sin-jo told the Dong-a Ilbo newspaper while visiting a memorial for the sailors. “In such a situation, an incident like this (the ship sinking) is necessary to ensure power.”

Kim should know. He was one of 31 North Korean commandos who infiltrated the South and stormed the presidential mansion in 1968, one of the most brazen and notorious attacks on Seoul. Kim, now 68 and a naturalized South Korean, was the only commando taken alive.

South Korea freezes North Korea money ahead of Cheonan warship sinking report

South Korea on Monday froze funds for government exchanges with the North, a possible sign that Seoul is preparing for the results from an investigation into the March 26 Cheonan warship sinking that killed 46.

South Korea said Monday it was freezing government funds for North Korea, just days before the findings of an international investigation into the sinking of the Cheonan warship are scheduled for release.

Tensions have been high since the Cheonan was torn in half by an unexplained explosion and sank on March 26, killing 46 South Korean sailors. It is widely suspected that the explosion came from a North Korean torpedo, but the South has avoided directly accusing the North, saying it will wait until the results of the investigation are announced.

But South Korea’s decision to scale back contact with North Korea may be a sign that it is preparing for the probe’s findings, which will be released by Thursday. The South suspended funding for government-level exchanges with North Korea at 10 ministries. Seoul has already asked South Korean companies not to ink new deals with Pyongyang or send resources across the border, reports Agence France-Presse.

Relations between the two sides have worsened since the sinking. South Korea on Saturday fired warning shots at North Korean naval boats in Southern waters, and the North on Sunday threatened to stop South Koreans from crossing into the North. The North last month barred access to South Korean assets at a jointly-run mountain resort.

After the Cheonan report is released the South is expected to ask the United Nations Security Council to place new sanctions on the culprit. AFP reports that the South is also considering halting trade with the North and resuming loudspeaker broadcasts on the border that criticize the North’s regime in Pyongyang.

Because Russia and China have vetoes on the Security Council the South is hoping to present “a smoking gun” indicating the North’s involvement. That would leave Russia and China little room to oppose more sanctions on Pyongyang. South Korean Defense Minister Kim Tae-young has said the report will leave little doubt as to who was responsible and after its release South Korea would “work out the next step in a clear and stern manner.”

According to an editorial in South Korean newspaper The Chosun Ilbo:

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, who visited Gyeongju on Saturday to attend a meeting with the foreign ministers of South Korea and Japan, said, “A scientific and objective investigation is important.” Yang’s comments show that Beijing will consider a response only if it determines that the results of South Korea’s investigation are scientific and objective enough. If the announcement fails to convince Beijing, it would become difficult to get the UN Security Council to impose sanctions against North Korea.

South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reports that the South will send a letter to the chairman of the Security Council immediately following the release of the probe’s report, initiating the appeal to the council. The South will probably brief China, Japan, and Russia before the report is released in an attempt to make their case for cooperation in the Security Council.

In a possible sign that China is not willing to support Pyongyang unquestioningly, it apparently denied North Korean leader Kim Jong-il’s request for economic aid on his recent trip to Beijing, reports Bloomberg. The reclusive North Korean leader had made his first trip to Beijing in four years to request assistance for the North’s devastated economy.

South Korea Concludes That North Korea Sank Ship, Chosun Says

May 07, 2010, 4:25 AM EDT

By Bomi Lim

May 7 (Bloomberg) — South Korea has concluded that North Korea sank one of its warships in March close to their disputed border with the loss of 46 lives, Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported.

The finding may hamper a resumption of nuclear disarmament talks with Kim Jong Il’s regime as public ire builds in South Korea, said Kim Yong Hyun, a professor of North Korean studies at Seoul’s Dongguk University. Kim Jong Il reaffirmed his commitment to denuclearization in a meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao this week, Xinhua News reported today.

Confirmation of a North Korean attack may pressure South Korean President Lee Myung Bak to coordinate an international response, shifting focus away from resuming nuclear negotiations. Lee’s office said yesterday there would be no six-party nuclear talks with North Korea until the sinking incident is resolved.

“Delaying the six-party talks is one tactic South Korea can use for now in meeting mounting public pressure to take some kind of action,” Dongguk University’s Kim said. “This can’t last too long as China and the U.S. would ultimately want to proceed with the nuclear disarmament process.”

Kim Jong Il met with China’s Hu between May 3 and 7, on an “unofficial visit,” Xinhua said, without specifying the date and publishing a photo of the two leaders shaking hands. North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency also reported the trip earlier today.

Boost Relations

During the meeting Hu outlined a plan to boost North Korean relations with high-level meetings, increased trade and cooperation, according to Xinhua. Prime Minister Wen Jiabao said China is willing to help North Korea develop its economy and to share its experiences in opening up to the world.

Hu accompanied Kim to a “bio-company” in Beijing and the North Korean leader also visited ports and companies in cities including Dalian, Tianjin, Beijing and Shenyang, the state news agency said.

China briefed South Korea on Kim’s visit today, Kim Sung Hwan, South Korea’s presidential secretary for foreign affairs and security told reporters today in Seoul, without further explanation.

Credit-default swaps on South Korean sovereign debt climbed 17 basis points to 134.4 today, the highest since September, according to CMA DataVision prices. The gain indicates increased credit risk.

‘Circumstantial Evidence’

South Korean and U.S. investigators have collected three pieces of “definitive circumstantial evidence” using satellite images and reconnaissance aircraft, Chosun reported, citing South Korean officials it didn’t identify. South Korea also tracked a North Korean submarine that probably fired on the 1,200-ton Cheonan on March 26, the Korean-language report said.

South Korea’s National Intelligence Service, Defense Ministry and presidential office declined to comment on the Chosun Ilbo report.

China is host of nuclear talks that also include Japan and Russia. The forum last met in December 2008 and Kim’s regime vowed in April 2009 to never return to the negotiating table.

Lee has vowed to take a “resolute” response against those held responsible for the ship sinking, which he said wasn’t caused by a “simple accident.” South Korea’s Defense Ministry has said a torpedo most likely caused an explosion that split the patrol ship apart. North Korea on April 17 denied it had anything to do with the incident.

Results of the investigation may be announced after May 20 and a U.S. State Department official may visit South Korea to announce a joint response, Chosun said.

Previous Attacks

North Korea has been implicated in previous attacks on the South, including assassination attempts on presidents and the downing of a commercial airliner in 1987, without provoking a military confrontation, said Bruce Klingner, a former CIA and defense intelligence analyst.

“No one was talking or even hinting about any kind of military attack,” Klingner said in a telephone interview from Washington, where he is a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation policy group. “One cannot guarantee that it would not lead to a series of escalations, possibly resulting in an all-out conflict.”

The Kospi share index declined 2.2 percent in Seoul, in- line with other Asian benchmarks falling on concern the European debt crisis will spread. The won slid to its weakest level in almost three months.

South Korea and the U.S. may appeal to the United Nations Security Council to punish North Korea, which would depend on how much support they get from China and Russia, said Richard Bush, a senior scholar at the Washington-based Brookings Institution.

“I think the most important thing is to go to China and basically say, ‘How can you defend these guys? How can you continue to defend them when they’re acting in this way?’” Bush said in a telephone interview.

(3rd LD) Gunpowder detected in sunken ship wreckage

By Chang Jae-soon
SEOUL, May 6 (Yonhap) — Investigators have found traces of gunpowder in the wreckage of a sunken South Korean naval ship, a government official said Thursday, further bolstering suspicions of a North Korean attack.

“A tiny amount of gunpowder ingredient was detected in the Cheonan’s hull, and a detailed analysis is under way,” a government official said on condition of anonymity. “It will be determined within this week whether this is from a torpedo or not.”

The finding reinforced suspicions that the 1,200-ton patrol ship came under an attack from North Korea before breaking in half and sinking near their tense Yellow Sea border on March 26, killing 46 sailors.

Along with four pieces of aluminum collected from the scene earlier, the gunpowder adds to possible evidence of a torpedo attack. Aluminum is a key element used in making torpedoes, and officials said the aluminum found appears to be different from the ship’s structure.

The official said the aluminum pieces were also under examination to determine whether they came from a torpedo.

After an initial examination of the Cheonan’s wreckage, investigators had said the ship appeared to have been struck by an underwater “non-contact” explosion, possibly from a torpedo or a sea mine.

Earlier this week, President Lee Myung-bak told a conference of top military generals that the sinking was not a “simple accident,” while Defense Minister Kim Tae-young said a “surprise attack” downed the vessel, although neither directly mentioned the communist neighbor.

North Korea has denied any responsibility.

The sinking was a key topic at Thursday’s talks between South Korean and U.S defense officials.

“The two sides agreed to maintain close policy coordination and cooperation to work out necessary security measures according to the result of an investigation in the future to prevent this kind of incident from happening again,” the defense ministry said in a statement.

It did not elaborate what the “necessary security measures” would be.

Michael Schiffer, deputy assistant secretary of defense for Asia and Pacific security affairs, represented the U.S. in the session of the Security Policy Initiative (SPI), while the South’s chief delegate was Chang Kwang-il, deputy defense minister for policy.

The two countries have held SPI talks every two or three months since 2005 to discuss a wide range of military and defense issues in an effort to have their alliance meet the changing security environment. Thursday’s session was the 25th meeting.

The U.S. has about 28,500 troops in South Korea to help defend its ally against North Korea.

Meanwhile, the navy held its own commanders’ meeting Thursday, pledging to carry out an intensive reform to make itself stronger.

The navy said it will launch a 50-day program to overhaul the organization.

“We will take this opportunity to reform all areas to build a navy that is trustworthy and strong,” a navy official said.

Adm. Kim Sung-chan, chief of naval operations, told the commanders never to forget that the divided peninsula is still technically in a state of conflict after the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce, and that enemy infiltrations and provocations can happen at any time, according to a speech text.

“The strongest possibility in the Cheonan’s sinking is clearly a military provocation by the enemy,” Kim told the meeting. “We have to be prepared for a full-scale war, but we also have to intensively check our preparedness for infiltrations … to ensure this kind of incident won’t happen again.”

Inside the Ring

By Bill Gertz INSIDE THE RING

Korea tensions

U.S. and Western officials say there are growing worries about a new conflict breaking out in Korea, based on evidence that a North Korean mini-submarine fired the torpedo that sank the South Korean coastal patrol ship Cheonan, killing 46 crew members.

South Korea’s government is under pressure to respond to the attack and is reviewing its options, including a possible military response to the March 26 sinking, Western sources said.

Seoul is expected in the next two weeks to reveal the results of an international probe that includes U.S. Navy investigators.

Preliminary intelligence assessments show that the planning for the operation to sink the Cheonan began late last year and included North Korean navy exercises with special operations forces that ultimately were used in the attack.

An intelligence source said the attack also appears linked to leadership succession in North Korea.

Additionally, senior North Korean military officials, including the chief of the general staff in Pyongyang, were involved. There is also indication of involvement by a three-star general, Kim Myong-guk, who had been demoted from four-star rank after a November 2009 North-South naval clash. The general recently appeared in a photograph in the North Korean state-run press as having regained his fourth star after the sinking.

The South Korean government recently lodged an official diplomatic protest to China over the visit by North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, saying Beijing was ignoring South Korean concerns about North Korea’s involvement in the Cheonan sinking.

A State Department official said the United States is backing its key Asian ally and demanding a resolution of the incident before restarting the stalled six-nation talks on North Korea’s nuclear program. The official said the Obama administration joined Seoul in issuing its own protest to China over Mr. Kim’s visit to China.