South Korea said yesterday it has ordered all government officials to stay on emergency alert until the crisis sparked by the mysterious sinking of a warship is resolved.
The officials have been told not to take leave and to stay alert even when off-duty in case of emergencies, the home ministry said, reiterating an instruction first issued on Saturday.
The 655,000-strong military and the police force were also ordered on heightened readiness, after an unexplained blast tore a 1,200-tonne corvette in two on Friday night near the border with North Korea in the Yellow Sea.
A huge search for 46 missing sailors, which has claimed the life of one naval rescue diver, was suspended yesterday due to stormy seas. Defense ministry spokesman Won Tae-jae said waves were up to 2.5m high and winds and currents were strong. He said divers had managed to open some hatches but had not penetrated inside the hull.
The military officially refuses to abandon hope but officers said privately there was no chance anyone could still be alive in watertight compartments inside the sunken hull.
Seoul has not cited any evidence the North was involved, although the defense minister has said a North Korean mine — either drifting or deliberately placed — might have caused the disaster.
Navy chief Kim Sung-Chan has said the ship’s munitions storage room did not appear to have exploded and “the ship was broken in two because of powerful outside pressure or an [exterior] explosion.”
Dong-A Ilbo newspaper said US and South Korean intelligence had satellite photos showing submersible craft moving in and out of a west coast base at Sagot in North Korea before and after the sinking.
“North Korean submersible or semi-submersible craft often disappear and return, and it is difficult to link it to the incident in a decisive manner,” it quoted a Seoul government source as saying.
The defense ministry said it could not comment on the report.
A total of 58 people were rescued from the bow section of the 88m ship soon after the sinking.
Grieving relatives accused the military of acting too slowly and said efforts must continue until all the missing are found.
“During our visit to the site, we saw that efforts to search the ship’s stern and rescue survivors were delayed because a rescue ship was not promptly dispatched,” Yonhap news agency quoted a family representative as saying.
The main opposition Democratic Party blasted the government.
“Six days have passed since the disaster, but the government and military authorities have failed to provide answers to even a single question,” party chief Chung Sye-Kyun said in a radio address, adding the parliament’s intelligence committee should hold hearings on the issue.
Meanwhile, North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is likely to visit China soon, South Korean presidential spokeswoman Kim Eun-hye told a briefing yesterday, declining to elaborate.
Yonhap news agency quoted diplomatic sources as saying Kim might leave as early as today or tomorrow. It quoted a senior Seoul official as saying there are “indications” of an impending visit. The official cited unusual activity near the Chinese border city of Dandong and in Beijing, but gave no details.
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