Seoul has released the full report on the sinking of the naval ship Cheonan in March, with the loss of 46 lives, and it should go far to allay doubts about the initial conclusion - that the vessel was sunk by a North Korean torpedo.
One by one, the report considers then discards other possibilities, such as an internal explosion, grounding of the ship and fatigue fracture. The report reflects the international nature of the investigation. For example, the Swedish investigation team concluded that the deformation of the ship's starboard propellers could not have occurred 'due to a grounding event'.
Although the report said the explosion of a 'moored mine cannot be excluded', that possibility was highly unlikely partly because the tidal current in the area would pose 'severe limitations' to the installation of the mine and, besides, the Cheonan had patrolled that area many times that day without incident.
Ultimately, detailed investigations - aided by an analysis of a simulated underwater explosion provided by American experts - led to the assessment that 'an underwater explosion occurred'.
As to the identity of the perpetrator, an intelligence task force made up of South Korea, the United States, Britain, Canada and Australia concluded: 'The evidence points overwhelmingly to the conclusion that the torpedo was fired by a North Korean submarine. There is no other plausible explanation.'
The release of the report once again puts Beijing in an awkward position since it has become the de facto defender of Pyongyang even though Premier Wen Jiabao , while visiting Seoul in May, promised that Beijing would not protect whoever was responsible for the attack. He said then that China had not yet reached a conclusion on the incident.
Four months later, it seems, Beijing still has not reached a conclusion on the incident. The Chinese have declined a South Korean offer to examine the gathered evidence. The release of the full report now provides another opportunity for Chinese officials to study the evidence, if they are interested in actually reaching a conclusion.