Pyongyang, August 30 (KCNA) -- The south Korean military authorities was disclosed to have deliberately delayed the work to rescue warship "Cheonan" after its sinking. This has sparked off public criticism.

This was disclosed by the section chief in charge of transportation of the munitions staff of the south Korean navy who made a testimony at a trial of Sin Sang Chol, a member of the joint investigation team on August 22.

According to him, it was urgent to bring cranes to the spot in order to pull up the sunken warship but the military authorities let the transportation section specializing in the management of motorcar insurance do the job.

The transportation section wasted away many days, getting familiar with the NGOs' possession of cranes through several channels and taking measures. As a result, it could start the rescue operation only after 5 days.

Sin Sang Chol said that the naval authorities had already concluded that all the seamen of the warship might have died within 5 or 10 minutes after its sinking and that they had no intention to carry out immediate salvage operation.

A journalist who covered the trial said that he was skeptical as to whether the military had real intention to rescue their servicepersons or not.