Torpedo blamed in sinking of South Korea warship

SEOUL, South Korea - An explosion caused by a torpedo probably tore apart and sank a South Korean warship near the North Korean border, Seoul's defense minister said yesterday, while declining to assign blame for the deadly blast as suspicion increasingly falls on Pyongyang.

Defense Minister Kim Tae-young said an underwater explosion appeared to have ripped the vessel apart, and a torpedo blast seemed the most likely cause. Investigators who examined salvaged wreckage announced separately yesterday that a close-range, external explosion probably sank it.

"Basically, I think the bubble jet effect caused by a heavy torpedo is the most likely" cause, Kim told reporters. That refers to the rapidly expanding bubble an underwater blast creates and the subsequent destructive column of water unleashed.

Kim said only that an investigation was continuing. Soon after the disaster, he told lawmakers that a North Korean torpedo was one of the likely scenarios, but the government has been careful not to blame the North outright. Pyongyang has denied involvement.

As investigations have pointed to an external explosion as the cause, however, suspicion of the North has grown, given the country's history of provocation and attacks on the South.

The Cheonan was on a routine patrol on March 26 when the unexplained explosion split it in two in one of South Korea's worst naval disasters. Forty bodies have been recovered so far, but six crew members are still unaccounted for and are presumed dead.