South Korea minister says it's 'obvious' North sank ship

Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan told reporters that investigators have enough evidence of North Korean involvement in the sinking of the Cheonan to warrant taking Pyongyang to the U.N. Security Council and would be presenting their findings Thursday.

Yu's comments are the first by a South Korean official clearly pointing the finger at North Korea for one of the worst attacks on the South since the two Koreas signed a truce in 1953 to end three years of fighting.

A thorough and exhaustive investigation revealed that a “strong underwater explosion generated by the detonation of a torpedo caused the Korean battleship to split apart and sink,” he said in a speech to Seoul-based European business executives.

Asked later by reporters if North Korea sank the ship, Yu said: “I think it's obvious.” He declined to provide further details, saying the official results of the multinational investigation into the incident would be released Thursday.

North Korea has denied involvement in the sinking of the Cheonan near the Koreas' maritime border on March 26. Vice parliamentary speaker Yang Hyong Sop criticized Seoul for “unreasonably” linking Pyongyang to the sinking earlier this week, according to Pyongyang's state radio station.

However, investigators will lay out evidence showing that a North Korean torpedo attack triggered the explosion that sank the Cheonan near the Koreas' tense western sea border, a U.S. official said in Washington, speaking on condition of anonymity.and

Investigators have collected damning evidence pointing to Pyongyang's involvement in the blast that blew the 1,200-ton warship apart during a routine patrolling mission in the Yellow Sea, local media said. Fifty-eight sailors were rescued; 46 died.

Fragments of a torpedo propeller found near the disaster site are similar to parts from a North Korean torpedo that South Korea obtained seven years ago, the Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported Wednesday, citing unidentified government officials.

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A serial number on the torpedo propeller was written in a font typically used in North Korea, and traces of explosives found in the wreckage resemble the gunpowder used in the North Korean torpedo retrieved in 2003, the paper said.

The Dong-a Ilbo newspaper carried a similar report, saying an 85-ton North Korean submersible is believed to have torpedoed the vessel. Citing an unidentified government official, the report said the conclusion was based on intelligence on the movement of North Korean submersibles and analyses of intercepted North Korean military communication.

South Korea also briefed the Chinese ambassador on its findings on the sinking.

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.

Diplomatic discussions were already under way Wednesday in Seoul and in Washington.

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