(3rd LD) S. Korea raises sunken naval ship, bodies recovered

(ATTN: COMBINES with story slugged 'sunken ship-body recovery'; RECASTS paras 1-8 to
update with 5 bodies recovered, identified; Sweden sending 4 experts in para 17)
By Chang Jae-soon
SEOUL, April 15 (Yonhap) -- A sunken South Korean naval ship was retrieved
Thursday, three weeks after it mysteriously broke in two and sank near the tense
sea border with North Korea, with salvage specialists recovering the bodies of
missing sailors from the wreckage.
A giant crane raised the gray stern of the 1,200-ton Cheonan patrol ship from the
sea and placed it on a barge in nationally televised operations. Five bodies were
later recovered from the wreckage that is also expected to serve as a key to
determining what sank the Cheonan on March 26.
The victims were identified as Petty Officers First Class Suh Dae-ho, 20; Bang
Il-min, 23; Lee Sang-joon, 20, and Petty Officer Second Class Lee Sang-min, 22;
and Petty Officer Third Class Ahn Dong-yeop, 22, the defense ministry said.
More bodies were expected to be recovered as some 40 salvage specialists were
working aboard the wreckage.
"Recovery work is being delayed, as workers have trouble getting inside the ship
that is entangled with wires and other waste," a senior Navy official said.
Thirty-nine of the ship's 104 crew members are still missing. Fifty-eight were
rescued as it sank.
TV footage showed workers on the deck moving what appeared to be bodies wrapped
in white cloth. Recovered bodies will be airlifted by helicopter to a naval base
in Pyeongtaek, officials said.
Thirty-eight civilian and military investigators, including two U.S. experts,
were also aboard the ship for an investigation, officials said.
TV footage also showed a side of the ship severely damaged, an indication that it
might have been struck by an external shock, such as a torpedo or sea mine. The
ship's severed side was wrapped with a net to keep objects inside from falling
out.
Officials have been cautious in speaking about the cause, only saying all
possibilities will be looked into.
North Korea's involvement has been suspected from the beginning as the site of
the sinking lies near where the two Koreas fought bloody gun battles in 1999,
2002 and most recently in November last year. But no concrete proof has been
found yet to support such speculation.
Pyongyang's state media outlets have remained silent on the incident.
"The weather is extremely good today. We see such nice weather in the area only
about once every two months," a naval officer said on condition of anonymity, as
he was not authorized to speak to the media. The salvage operations could finish
earlier than expected, he said.
Lifting began at 9 a.m. and it was expected to take about 11 hours to pull the
wreck out of the water, place it on a barge and then begin searching for the
missing sailors, as extreme caution is needed to make sure nothing goes wrong in
handling the heavy craft.
Ahead of the salvage operations, family members of some of the missing sailors
and surviving shipmates held a ceremony aboard a warship to pray that all missing
soldiers are found.
The Navy plans to move the wreck to the Pyeongtaek naval base for investigation.
Survivors say a powerful explosion rocked the vessel, with the rear of the vessel
disappearing out of sight less than a minute later. Experts have also suggested
an internal explosion, "metal fatigue" in the ship and a collision with a reef as
causes for the sinking.
International experts -- eight from the United States and three from Australia --
have arrived in South Korea to help with investigations into the sinking, as
Seoul tries to ensure transparency and objectivity in the probe.
Sweden also informed Seoul that it will send four experts, an official said. They
are expected to arrive here as early as this weekend, he said.
In Washington, a senior South Korean official said that efforts to resume
international talks on North Korea's nuclear programs could suffer a setback if
Pyongyang is found to have been involved in the sinking.
"We've not yet fixed a concrete game plan, but we may face criticism from the
media if we reopen the talks after North Korea's involvement is confirmed," the
official said, asking anonymity.
Kurt Campbell, a senior U.S. State Department official, said Washington and Seoul
are in full coordination for possible next steps in case of Pyongyang's
involvement.
"We want to be very clear that there is a complete agreement between South Korea
and the United States about next steps if there are to be next steps given recent
developments," Campbell told reporters, according to AFP.
"At this juncture, we told our South Korean friends that our primary objective
is to work with them on the recovery of the ship and at that point, we will be
able to make some judgments about the way forward," he said.
South and North Korea still remain technically at war after the 1950-53 Korean
War ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.
North Korea does not recognize the western sea border, drawn by the United
Nations at the end of the conflict. Pyongyang claims the line should be redrawn
further south, and the dispute led to the three naval skirmishes.
The military allowed the media to take pictures of the wreck's broken face after
it is placed on a barge, but only from a distance. Such restrictions are
inevitable because full disclosure could lead to a military information leak,
officials said.
jschang@yna.co.kr
(END)