US Rules Out North Korea's Involvement In South Korean Navy Ship's Sinking

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There is no apparent evidence to suspect North Korea's involvement in the sinking of a South Korean warship last month near the maritime border between the two nations, the chief of U.S. forces in Korea, said Tuesday.

General Walter Sharp said a joint U.S.-South Korean team would be constituted to try and find out what caused the sinking of the 1,200-ton 'Cheonan' in the Yellow Sea on March 26.

"We, the United States and the Republic of Korea (official name for South Korea), are forming a joint investigative team and after we get the ship up, we will have the best experts from Korea and the United States really go over and determine what was the cause of this incident," Sharp said at a luncheon hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce in Seoul.

One sailor was confirmed dead in the mishap with 45 other sailors, all crew members of the warship, too feared dead although they are listed as missing.

Sharp said although there were speculations about North Korea's involvement in the incident, there was no hard evidence to suspect the Communist state.

"We, as Combined Forces Command and the ROK Joint Chief of Staff, watch North Korea very closely every single day of the year and we continue to do that right now. And again, as this has been said, we see no unusual activity at this time," he averred.

Sharp also refused to speculate on the probable reasons that led to the accident saying that the most important thing was to get at the truth without resorting to unnecessary haste.

"We want to get the right answer, the correct answer and we don't want to rush to that conclusion, to any conclusion as to what was the cause of the incident," Sharp asserted.

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