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The ROKS ''Cheonan'' sinking occurred on 26 March 2010, when , a of the Republic of Korea Navy, carrying 104 personnel, sank off the country's west coast near Baengnyeong Island in the Yellow Sea, killing 46 seamen. The cause of the sinking remains in dispute. A South Korean-led official investigation carried out by a team of international experts from South Korea, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and Sweden〔〔 presented a summary of its investigation on 20 May 2010, concluding that the warship had been sunk by a North Korean torpedo〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Results Confirm North Korea Sank ''Cheonan'' )〕 fired by a midget submarine.〔 The conclusions of the report resulted in significant controversy within South Korea. North Korea denied that it was responsible for the sinking. North Korea's further offer to aid an open investigation was disregarded.〔Watson Paul (19 July 2012). (South Korea good, North Korea bad? Not a very useful outlook. ) ''The Guardian''. Retrieved 26 December 2012.〕 China dismissed the official scenario presented by South Korea and the United States as not credible.〔 An investigation by the Russian Navy also did not concur with the report. The United Nations Security Council made a Presidential Statement condemning the attack but without identifying the attacker. ==Background== (詳細はBaengnyeong Island is a South Korean island in the Yellow Sea, off the Ongjin peninsula in North Korea. It lies less than from the North Korean coast, and is over from the South Korean mainland. The island is to the south and west of the Northern Limit Line, the ''de facto'' maritime boundary dividing South Korea (ROK) from North Korea (DPRK). The area is the site of considerable tension between the two states; although it was provided in the armistice agreement for the stalemate of the Korean war that the islands themselves belonged to the South, the sea boundary was not covered by the armistice, and the sea is claimed by the North. The situation is further complicated by the presence of a rich fishing ground used by DPRK and Chinese fishing vessels, and there have been numerous clashes over the years between naval vessels from both sides attempting to police what both sides regard as their territorial waters. These have been referred to as "crab wars".〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Northern Limit Line (NLL) West Sea Naval Engagements )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「ROKS Cheonan sinking」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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