If I may engage in a little speculation of what happened that night…

The South Korean navy was on alert that night because of intelligence they received that showed North Korea’s midget subs had left their base and may be planning to infiltrate the NLL. Shortly before 9pm, the patrol, comprised of the Cheonan, the Seokcho, the Seongnam, and 9 high-speed patrol boats responded to an unusual sonar sighting near Baeknyeong Island, which they rightly suspected was a North Korean midget sub. As the Cheonan approached, it was torpedoed, either intentionally with orders from NK’s top leadership or because the sub’s captain freaked out when he noticed the South’s patrol approaching.

The South Korean government is now unsure about how to proceed, knowing that any tit-for-tat escalation will either directly or indirectly lead to war. Although the prospects for direct military retaliation seem low, inevitably, any attempts to isolate the North economically, enforce the PSI, or shut down its cash-cow in Kaesong will escalate matters further and increase the likelihood of more armed provocations.

As has been mentioned previously, the Lee Administration is loath to do anything that might rattle international investors, harm South Korea’s international reputation, its economic indicators, or the slate of upcoming international events to be hosted here (the G-20 summit, the Asian Games, another bid for the Winter Olympics, etc.). They also do not want to and are completely unprepared to take on the burden of reconstructing and rehabilitating the northern half of the peninsula after what will be a short and decisive, but deadly war.

They know full-well, beyond a shadow of a doubt what happened that night. They are probably also under pressure from the Obama Administration, who are too bogged down Afghanistan and Iraq and don’t want to open a third theater of war. Like all Grand Cover-ups, this one falls victim to the laws of probability and collapses under its own weight, hence the conflicting the stories from inside the government. The Lee Administration hopes that they can delay the final report until after public passions have calmed down and the incident has been forgotten, so they are not forced to start a war, leaving the 46 murdered sailors un-avenged and the South and Americans looking weaker than ever in the yes of the North..

Another possibility is they know what happened but are waiting for more conclusive proof before they make the case for retaliation.

Also, FWIW, Nightwatch has speculated that this could be a friendly-fire incident.

first, among elites
second, junior officials
third, general population via block meetings

They won’t come out and publicize it on their official state media.

there is an issue of security issue. –> there is a security issue.

these dupes really hate when they are told they were duped, because they think they can be that stupid. They always claim that they are not lefties let along commies

these dupes really hate –> these dupes really hate it

they think they can be that stupid –> they think they can’t be that stupid

let along commies –> let alone commies

Unfortunately I know this won’t be the last to pepper my comment with typos.
Sigh.

IMHO, much of initial confusion and bungling come from Pres. imposing the ban of NK involvement. Then, there is an issue of security issue. Military was not sure how much they make public. They tried to hold off from public as much as they can. Keep it safe.

All these were great excuse for lefties to launch all kind of insane charges and accusations.
It is clear that they had emotional stake in bringing down this government. The beef riot did not work. Since then, they are desperate for anothher spark to ignite mass riot. Until this gov is incapacitated. There is a well-orchestrated subversion campaign going on, even though many of those in the street were dupes swept into a frenzy and hysteria whipped by operatives. It is not just about gov. and military bungling. The trouble is that these dupes really hate when they are told they were duped, because they think they can be that stupid. They always claim that they are not lefties let along commies. However, if they allow themselves to be handy tool of pro-NK operative, it does not really matter. They do as much damage as real operatives.

On the other hand, this thing is not only confined to S. Korea. You see these kind of things in U.S., too. The only difference is that SK now is what U.S. was some 30~40 years ago, when Weather Underground and Black Panthers were active while many dupes were radical.

there couldn’t have been an explosion, or so holds the theory, because no one saw a fireball and none of the injured were burned. But this is nonsense even to the untrained.

The notion that electric fans burn or slice up oxygen molecules would be nonsense even to high school kids with mediocre scores on the science SOL.