Military Death Investigation Committee to Pursue Reinvestigation of 'Cheonan Ship Attack'

Cheonan Ship. Photo by Navy

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] The Presidential Military Death Incident Investigation Committee (hereinafter referred to as the Committee) has decided to re-investigate the Cheonan ship attack incident, sparking controversy.

According to military authorities on the 1st, the Committee's investigation follows a petition submitted by Shin Sang-chul, who has consistently raised the "Cheonan ship grounding theory," and the families of the deceased strongly oppose this. It is known that Shin Sang-chul submitted the petition last September, requesting the cause of the Cheonan ship attack incident to be revealed.

The Committee judged that Shin Sang-chul, who also served as a member of the Cheonan ship Civil-Military Joint Investigation Team, meets the petitioner requirements as a "person who heard from a witness of the death incident."

The Civil-Military Joint Investigation Team officially announced in May of that year that the Navy patrol ship Cheonan sank on March 26, 2010, at 9:22 p.m. in the southwestern sea of Baengnyeongdo while on guard duty, due to a torpedo attack by a North Korean submarine. Among the 104 crew members, 46 died and 58 were rescued.

Meanwhile, it is expected to take more time before the main investigation into the petitioned incident begins. According to the Committee, 1,787 petitions were received by the deadline of September 14 last year, and this petition is one of about 370 received in the last month. Including 321 cases resolved by the end of February, 649 cases have been closed, and the main investigation will proceed in order of receipt for the remaining 1,138 cases.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.