South Korea to officially blame North Korea for March torpedo attack on warship

[thewiseguy]

SEOUL -- South Korea's foreign minister said Wednesday the sinking of one of its warships in March was the result of a North Korean attack, adding that his country now has enough evidence to seek action by the U.N. Security Council against the North.

"It's obvious," Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan said. His remarks were the first by a South Korean official to pin definitive blame on North Korea for an attack that killed 46 sailors and sharply escalated tension on the Korean Peninsula.

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

South Korea has found a serial number -- written in a font used in North Korea -- on torpedo propeller fragments retrieved near the sunken ship and has also found traces of explosives in the wreckage that are identical to explosives found seven years ago in a stray North Korean torpedo, government officials told South Korean media.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/19/AR2010051900388.html?wprss=rss_nation

Article says that China is "skeptical" and wants credible evidence. Official announcement will come tomorrow. Punishment will be most likely in form of sanctions but in the long run this may result in a military conflict.