South Korea Does Everything But Point a Finger at the Norks

While they didn't officially blame the Norks for sinking the Cheonan, the South Koreans dropped every hint they could that it was their fault.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said on Tuesday the sinking of a warship in which 46 sailors were killed was no accident but he stopped short of blaming North Korea and made clear he was not about to order a revenge strike.

Senior government officials privately make little secret of their belief that the reclusive neighbor deliberately torpedoed the 1,200-tonne Cheonan on March 26 near their disputed border in retaliation for a naval firefight last year in which the South bested the North.

"One sure fact is that the Cheonan did not sink because of a simple accident," Lee Myung-bak told a meeting of his top military commanders in a nationally televised speech.

The issue casts something of a cloud over this week's visit by North Korea's iron ruler Kim Jong-il to China, the only major power he can count on to prop up the isolated state's broken economy and his own family's more than 60-year grip on power.

International investigators are still examining the reason for the explosion that sank the ship but the government has already said it came from outside the vessel, which leaves little other explanation than a North Korean attack.

By: Brant