title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: 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 fired by a midget submarine. The conclusions of the report resulted in significant controversy within South Korea. Following the sinking, South Korea imposed sanctions against North Korea, known as the May 24 measures.


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: North Korea denied that it was responsible for the sinking. North Korea's further offer to aid an open investigation was disregarded. China dismissed the official scenario presented by South Korea and the United States as not credible. The results of an investigation by the Russian Navy were not made public. The United Nations Security Council made a Presidential Statement condemning the attack but without identifying the attacker.<ref name="UN-S/PRST/2010/13"></ref>


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: 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).


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: 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.


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: 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".


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: In late May 2010, Bruce Cumings, a University of Chicago expert on Korean affairs, commented that the sinking should be regarded as part of long-running tensions in a naval no-man's land. He noted a confrontation in November 2009 in which several North Korean sailors died, and an incident in 1999 when 30 North Koreans were killed and 70 wounded when their ship sank.


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: In both incidents, the North Koreans were the first to open fire. In the 1999 incident the South Koreans escalated matters by initiating a campaign of boat 'bumping' in order to stop what the South saw as a violation of its maritime borders. Considering these previous incidents, Cumings said that the "Cheonan" sinking was "ripped out of context, the context of a continuing war that has never ended."


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: General Walter L. Sharp, Commander of the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command at the time had, on 24 March, testified before the US House Appropriations Committee, in part, on the need to strengthen the ROK-U.S. alliance, the need for on-site advanced training of the Air Force, the need to improve the quality of life and provide tour normalization for troops serving one-year tours, planned relocation of bases, and the scheduled 2012 transition of Operational Control (OPCON) to ROK hands. He also warned of the possibility that North Korea could "even launch an attack on the ROK."


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: On the night of the sinking, the U.S. and South Korean navies were engaged in joint anti-submarine warfare exercises 75 miles (121 km) away. This was part of the annual "Key Resolve/Foal Eagle" war exercise, described as "one of the world's largest simulated exercises", involving many U.S. and South Korean warships.


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: On Friday, 26 March 2010, an explosion was reported to have occurred near , a , near the stern of the ship at 9:22 pm local time (12:22 pm GMT/UTC). This caused the ship to break in half five minutes afterward, sinking at approximately 9:30 pm about off the south-west coast of Baengnyeong Island.


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: Some initial reports suggested that the ship was hit by a North Korean torpedo, and that the South Korean vessel had returned fire. However, the South Korean Ministry of Defense stressed in the first press briefings after the sinking that there was "no indication of North Korean involvement". "Cheonan" was operating its active sonar at the time, which did not detect any nearby submarine. Several theories have subsequently been put forth by various agencies as to the cause of the sinking. Early reports also suggested that South Korean navy units had shot at an unidentified ship heading towards North Korea, but a defense official later said that this target may have been a flock of birds misidentified on radar.


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: The ship had a crew of 104 men at the time of sinking, and 58 crewmembers were rescued by 11:13 pm local time. The remaining 46 crew died.


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: The stern of "Cheonan" settled on its left side in deep water close to the site of the sinking, but the bow section took longer to sink and settled overturned in of water away with a small part of the hull visible above the water.


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: Initially six South Korean navy and two South Korean coast guard ships assisted in the rescue as well as aircraft from the Republic of Korea Air Force. It was reported on March 27 that hopes of finding the 46 missing crew alive were fading. Survival time in the water was estimated at two hours and large waves were hampering rescue attempts. After the sinking, President Lee Myung-bak said that recovery of survivors was the main priority. Air was pumped into the ship to keep any survivors alive.


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: Over 24 military vessels were involved over course of the search-and-rescue effort, including four U.S. Navy vessels: , , , and .


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: On 30 March 2010 it was reported that one South Korean naval diver (ROKN UDT/SEAL CWO Han Ju-ho) had died after losing consciousness while searching for survivors, and another had been hospitalised.


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: On 3 April 2010, South Korean officials said that a private fishing boat involved in the rescue operations had collided with a Cambodian freighter, sinking the fishing boat and killing at least two people, with seven reported missing. The same day, the Joint Chiefs of Staff of South Korea said that the body of one of the 46 missing sailors had been found.


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: Later on 3 April 2010 South Korea called off the rescue operation for the missing sailors, after families of the sailors asked for the operation to be suspended for fear of further casualties among the rescue divers. The military's focus then shifted towards salvage operations, which were predicted to take up to a month to complete.


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: On 15 April 2010, the stern section of the ship was winched from the seabed by a large floating crane, drained of water and placed on a barge for transportation to the Pyongtaek navy base. On 23 April 2010, the stack was recovered, and on 24 April the bow portion was raised. The salvaged parts were taken to Pyongtaek navy base for an investigation into the cause of the sinking by both South Korean and foreign experts.


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: The bodies of 40 personnel out of 46 who went down with the ship were recovered. Their bodies were laid to rest at the Daejeon National Cemetery.


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: After raising the ship, South Korea and the United States formed a joint investigative team to discover the cause of the sinking. Later South Korea announced that it intended to form an international group to investigate the sinking including Canada, Britain, Sweden and Australia.


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: On 16 April 2010, Yoon Duk-yong, co-chairman of the investigation team, said "In an initial examination of "Cheonan"s stern, South Korean and U.S. investigators found no traces showing that the hull had been hit directly by a torpedo. Instead, we've found traces proving that a powerful explosion caused possibly by a torpedo had occurred underwater. The explosion might have created a bubble jet that eventually generated an enormous shock wave and caused the ship to break in two." Traces of an explosive chemical substance used in torpedoes, RDX, were later found in May 2010.


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: "The Washington Post" reported on 19 May 2010, that a team of investigators from Sweden, Australia, Britain, and the United States had concluded that a North Korean torpedo sank the ship. The team found that the torpedo used was identical to a North Korean torpedo previously captured by South Korea. On 25 April 2010, the investigative team announced that the cause of the sinking was a non-contact underwater explosion.


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: On 7 May 2010, a government official said that a team of South Korean civilian and military experts had found traces of RDX, a high explosive more powerful than TNT and used in torpedoes. On 19 May 2010, the discovery of a fragment of metal containing a serial number similar to one on a North Korean torpedo salvaged by South Korea in 2003 was announced.


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: In their summary for the United Nations Security Council, the investigation group was described as the "Joint Civilian-Military Investigation Group of the Republic of Korea with the participation of international experts from Australia, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States, and the Multinational Combined Intelligence Task Force, comprising the Republic of Korea, Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States," which consisted of "25 experts from 10 top Korean expert agencies, 22 military experts, 3 experts recommended by the National Assembly, and 24 foreign experts constituting 4 support teams".


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: On 20 May the South Korean-led investigation group released a summary of their report in which they concluded that the sinking of the warship was the result of a North Korean torpedo attack, commenting that "The evidence points overwhelmingly to the conclusion that the torpedo was fired by a North Korean submarine." The inquiry also alleged that a group of small submarines, escorted by a support ship, departed from a North Korean naval base a few days before the sinking. The specific weapon used was alleged to be a North Korean manufactured CHT-02D torpedo, of which substantial parts were recovered.


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: According to the "Chosun Ilbo", South Korean investigators told their journalists that they believe that one or two North Korean submarines, a and the other a , departed a naval base at Cape Bipagot accompanied by a support ship on 23 March 2010. One of the subs, according to the report, detoured around to the west side of Baengnyeong Island, arriving on 25 March 2010. There, it waited about under the ocean's surface in waters deep for "Cheonan" to pass by.


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: Investigators believe that the submarine fired the torpedo from about 3 km away. The attack appears to have been timed for a period when tidal forces in the area were slow. The North Korean vessels returned to port on 28 March 2010. Such detailed information on the North Korean submarine movements, and attack position, was not in the official summary or final report.


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: The torpedo parts recovered at the site of the explosion by a dredging ship on 15 May which include the 5×5 bladed contra-rotating propellers, propulsion motor and a steering section, was claimed to match the schematics of the CHT-02D torpedo included in introductory brochures provided to foreign countries by North Korea for export purposes. An incorrect, though similar, torpedo schematic had by mistake been shown at the televised RIG briefing for comparison with the recovered parts.


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: The correct schematic has never been made public. The markings in Hangul, which reads "1번" (or No. 1 in English), found inside the end of the propulsion section, is consistent with the marking of a previously obtained North Korean torpedo, but inconsistent with one found seven years ago, which is marked "4호." Critics have pointed out that '호" is the term used most often in the North, rather than "번." Russian and Chinese torpedoes are marked in their respective languages. The CHT-02D torpedo manufactured by North Korea utilizes acoustic/wake homing and passive acoustic tracking methods.


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: Simulations indicated that of TNT equivalent explosive at depth, to the port of the center line, would result in the damage seen to "Cheonan".


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: The full report had not been released to the public at this time, though the South Korean legislature was provided with a five-page synopsis of the report.


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: A draft copy of the report was obtained by "Time" magazine in early August 2010, before the final report was released. According to "Time", the report assessed in detail ten possible alternative scenarios, with extensive discussion and explanation of why those ten were not possible. It finally settled on the eleventh explanation, which was a North Korean attack, which it said was a "high possibility."


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: In support of this conclusion, the report says that witnesses had reported seeing flashes of light or sounds of an explosion, as well as that the US Navy analysis of the wreck concluded that a torpedo containing 250 kilograms of explosives had collided with "Cheonan" six to nine meters below the waterline. Damage to the hull supported this conclusion, while inconsistent with what would be expected if the ship had run aground or had been hit with a missile.


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: On 13 September 2010, the full report was released. It concluded that "Cheonan" had been sunk due to a torpedo explosion, which, while not having contacted the ship, exploded several meters from the hull of the ship and caused a shockwave and bubble effect of sufficient strength to severely damage and sink the ship.


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: According to a survey conducted by Seoul National University's Institute for Peace and Unification Studies, less than one third of South Koreans trust the findings of the multinational panel. A later survey by the JoongAng Ilbo newspaper in 2011 found that 68 percent of South Koreans trusted the government's report that "Cheonan" was sunk by a North Korean submersible.


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: Lee Jung Hee, a lawmaker with the opposition Democratic Labor Party, was sued for defamation by seven people at South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff. Lee said during a speech in the national assembly that while the Defense Ministry had said there was no feed from a thermal observation device showing the moment the warship's stern and bow split apart, such a video did exist. Prosecutors then questioned Shin Sang-cheol, who served on the panel that investigated the incident and also runs Seoprise, over his assertion that "Cheonan" sank in an accident and that the evidence linking the North to the torpedo was tampered with.


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: The Defense Ministry asked the National Assembly to eject Shin from the panel for "arousing public mistrust." Shin stated that he doubted the official conclusion on the sinking, saying that when he looked at the dead sailors' bodies, they bore no signs of an explosion. Shin wrote a letter addressed to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton showing the evidence for his contention that the ship ran aground and then collided with another vessel.


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: Near the end of May a team of Russian Navy submarine and torpedo experts visited South Korea to conduct an assessment of the South Korean led investigation. The team returned to Russia with samples for further physical-chemical analysis. No official statement on the assessment has been made. It was claimed that the assessment concluded "Cheonan" was not sunk by a North Korean bubble jet torpedo, but did not come to any firm conclusion about the cause of the sinking. "The Hindu" quoted a Russian Navy source stating that "after examining the available evidence and the ship wreckage Russian experts came to the conclusion that a number of arguments produced by the international investigation in favour of the DPRK's involvement in the corvette sinking were not weighty enough".


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: On 27 July 2010, "The Hankyoreh" published what it claimed was a detailed summary of the Russian Navy expert team's analysis. According to "The Hankyoreh", the Russian investigators concluded that "Cheonan" touched the sea floor and damaged one of its propellers prior to a non-contact explosion, possibly caused by setting off a mine while the ship was trying to maneuver into deeper water. Visual examination of the torpedo parts South Korea found purportedly indicated that it had been in the water for more than 6 months. On the following day South Korean officials responded with "a full-scale refutation".


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: On 3 August 2010 Russian UN ambassador Vitaly Churkin stated that his country's investigative report's conclusions into the sinking would not be made public. Withholding the investigation results was seen as insensitive by South Korea, but avoided political damage to a number of states.


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: During talks between the American and Chinese governments in late May 2010, Chinese officials were reported by Yoichi Shimatsu, a commentator for the Chinese state-run CCTV-9, to have stated that the sinking of "Cheonan" had been as a result of an American rising mine, which was moored to the seabed and propels itself into a ship detected by sound or magnetics, planted during anti-submarine exercises that were conducted by the South Korean and US navies shortly before the sinking. To back up their statements, the Chinese said that North Korean submarines such as the one believed to have sunk "Cheonan" were incapable of moving undetected within South Korean waters, and a rising mine would have damaged the ship by splitting the hull, as was done to "Cheonan", rather than simply holing the vessel as a conventional torpedo does. A conventional torpedo traveling at would also be completely destroyed upon impact, which was stated to contradict the torpedo parts found later.


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: A separate investigation conducted by scientists at the University of Manitoba yielded results that conflict with the official investigation's findings. According to the leader of the investigation, residue on the hull of the ship that was claimed to have been aluminum oxide, which is a byproduct of explosions such as that of a torpedo, had a far higher ratio of oxygen to aluminum, leading the researchers to conclude that "we cannot say that the substance adhering to the "Cheonan" was the explosion byproduct of aluminum oxide." The South Korean Ministry of Defense issued a rebuttal to the findings, saying, "The detonation of explosives containing aluminum occurs within hundreds of thousandths of a second under high temperatures of more than 3,000 degrees Celsius and high pressures of more than 200,000 atm, and most of it becomes noncrystalline aluminum oxide."


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: A report published online by "Nature" on 8 July 2010 noted several instances of groups or individuals disagreeing with the official report. The article also notes the rebuttal of those disagreements by analysts and government officials, with one analyst arguing that the sinking was "consistent with North Korea's behaviour in the past."


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: In 2013, an academic paper was published analysing the available seismic data. It calculated that the seismic data recorded would be accounted for by a TNT-equivalent charge, similar to the explosive yield of land control mines which had been abandoned in the vicinity.


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: In 2014, an academic paper was published analysing the spectra of the seismic signals and hydroacoustic reverberation waves generated. The paper found it doubtful that the vibrations of the water column were caused by an underwater explosion, instead finding that the recorded seismic spectra were consistent with the natural vibration frequencies of a large submarine with a length of around . This raised the possibility that the sinking was caused by a collision with a large submarine, rather than an explosion.


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: South Korean President Lee Myung-bak convened an emergency meeting of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Orders were given to the military to concentrate on rescuing the survivors. In Seoul, police were put on alert. At the time, a spokesman for the South Korean military stated that there was no evidence that North Korea had been involved in the incident. A large group of relatives of the missing sailors protested outside the navy base at Pyeongtaek over the lack of information provided to them.


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: On 28 March relatives were taken to the site of the sunken vessel. Some relatives stated that survivors had claimed that the "Cheonan" had been in a poor state of repair. The Korean media have raised the issue of why the sister ship , which was operating nearby, did not come to the rescue of the sinking ship but instead fired shots at radar images which were later confirmed to be migratory birds.


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: On 5 April 2010, President Lee Myung-bak visited Baengnyeong Island. He reiterated that it was risky to speculate over the cause, and the joint military and civilian investigation team would determine the cause. He said, "We have to find the cause in a way that satisfies not only our people but also the international community". The president of South Korea had mourned the victims and said that he will respond "resolutely" to the sinking without yet laying blame for its cause.


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: On 24 May Lee Myung-bak said the South would "resort to measures of self-defense in case of further military provocation of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea." He also supported readopting the official description of the North as the "main enemy."


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: South Korea pursued measures from the United Nations Security Council after the incident, although the language used in the country's statements towards such measures became progressively weaker. In announcements made soon after the sinking, the government said that any draft presented by South Korea would explicitly state that North Korea was responsible for the incident, but by early July, the language had been reduced to only referring to "those responsible," in response to concerns from Russia.


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: Since the incident, the South Korean government has been reluctant to engage in further diplomacy with North Korea over disputes such as North Korea's nuclear weapons program. In response to a request by China, in April 2011 South Korea agreed to talks, but South Korean government officials commented that an apology from North Korea for the sinking would probably be necessary to facilitate any significant progress in the dialogues.


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: On 2 May it was reported that South Korea's naval minister vowed "retaliation" against those responsible. Admiral Kim Sung-chan, at a publicly televised funeral for "Cheonan"s dead crew members in Pyeongtaek, stated that, "We will not sit back and watch whoever caused this pain for our people. We will hunt them down and make them pay a bigger price."


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: On 4 May President Lee proposed "extensive reformations" for the South Korean military regarding the sinking incident. After the official report was released South Korea has said that it will take strong countermeasures against the North.


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: Writing in "The New York Times", Korea scholar Brian Reynolds Myers stated that there was not much anger or outrage among ordinary South Koreans over the sinking. He stated that due to the inherently ethnic nature of Korean nationalism, there was no major uproar over the incident in South Korean society because of ethnic solidarity with North Koreans that many South Koreans feel, which Myers said overruled patriotism towards South Korea in many cases involving North Korea.


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: On 24 May 2010, South Korea announced it would stop nearly all its trade with North Korea as a result of the official report blaming North Korea for the sinking. South Korea also announced it would prohibit North Korean vessels from using its shipping channels. According to the "New York Times", the trade embargoes were "the most serious action" South Korea could take short of military action. The United States openly supported South Korea's decision. The embargo is expected to cost the North Korean economy roughly $200 million a year. The decision to cease trade was followed up with the United States and South Korea announcing they would conduct joint naval exercises in response to the sinking.


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: The South Korean military announced that it would resume psychological warfare directed at North Korea. This would include both loudspeaker and FM radio propaganda broadcasts across the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). Meanwhile, a North Korean military commander stated, "If South Korea establishes new psychological warfare services, we will fire against them in order to eliminate them", according to a report carried by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: South Korea began propaganda broadcasts into North Korea by radio on 25 May. North Korea responded by putting its troops on high alert, and severed most remaining ties and communications with South Korea in response to what it called a "smear campaign" by Seoul. South Korean military propaganda FM broadcasts were resumed at 18:00 (local time) starting with the song "HuH" by K-pop band 4minute.


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: As part of the propaganda broadcasts, South Korea reinstalled loudspeakers at eleven places along the DMZ. There was originally a plan to also use electronic signs, although due to cost, the plan was reportedly being reconsidered. On 13 June, South Korean media announced that the South Korean Defense Minister, Kim Tae-young, had said that anti-North Korea broadcasts were planned to resume after the United Nations Security Council took action against North Korea in response to the sinking of "Cheonan".


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: Discourse over the events leading to the sinking of "Cheonan" was tightly controlled by the South Korean government in the months after the incident. On 8 May 2010, a former senior presidential secretary who served under Roh Moo-hyun, Park Seon-won, was charged with libel by South Korea's Defense Minister, Kim Tae-young, over comments he made during a 22 April interview on MBC radio asking for greater disclosure from the military and government. Park Seon-won's response to the charge was: "I asked for the disclosure of information for a transparent and impartial investigation into the cause of the "Cheonan" sinking;" he added that "the libel suit seeks to silence public suspicion over the incident."


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: South Korea's Minister of Public Administration and Security, Maeng Hyung-kyu, announced on 20 May 2010 that the government was stepping up efforts to prosecute people who spread "groundless rumors" over the internet: "Anyone who makes false reports or articles about the incident could seriously damage national security. We will not let these be the basis of any risks the nation faces." Moreover, he announced the government would step up efforts to prevent "illegal gatherings" regarding the sinking of "Cheonan".


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: A South Korean military oversight board, the Board of Inspection and Audit, has accused senior South Korean naval leaders of lying and hiding information. Said the board, "Military officers deliberately left out or distorted key information in their report to senior officials and the public because they wanted to avoid being held to account for being unprepared."


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: In 2013, a documentary film named "Project Cheonan Ship" was released in South Korea about the sinking, including a number of possible alternative causes for the sinking. Members and relatives of the South Korean navy sought a court injunction to block the film's release on the basis that the film distorted the facts. The injunction was denied in court, however, a major cinema chain, Megabox, withdrew the film after warnings from conservative groups that they planned to picket showings the film.


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) released an official response to the investigation on 28 May 2010, asserting, amongst other things, that it is unbelievable that part of a torpedo doing so much damage to a ship would survive:


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: Besides, the assertion that the screw shaft and engine remained undamaged and unchanged in shape is also a laughing shock. Even U.S. and British members of the international investigation team, which had blindly backed the South Korean regime in its 'investigation', were perplexed at the exhibit in a glass box.


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: On 17 April 2010, it was reported that North Korea officially denied having had anything to do with the sinking, responding to what it referred to as "The puppet military warmongers, right-wing conservative politicians and the group of other traitors in South Korea". An article from KCNA entitled "Military Commentator Denies Involvement in Ship Sinking" stated that the event was an accident.


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: ... we have so far regarded the accident as a regretful accident that should not happen in the light of the fact that many missing persons and most of rescued members of the crew are fellow countrymen forced to live a tiresome life in the puppet army.


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: On 21 May 2010, North Korea offered to send their own investigative team to review the evidence compiled by South Korea, and the Hankyoreh quoted Kim Yeon-chul, professor of unification studies at Inje University, commenting on the offer: "It is unprecedented in the history of inter-Korean relations for North Korea to propose sending an investigation team in response to an issue that has been deemed a 'military provocation by North Korea,'"and thus "The "Cheonan" situation has entered a new phase."


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: North Korea also warned of a wide range of hostile reactions to any move by South Korea to hold it accountable for the sinking.


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: If the South puppet group comes out with 'response' and 'retaliation', we will respond strongly with ruthless punishment including the total shutdown of North-South ties, abrogation of the North-South agreement on non-aggression and abolition of all North-South cooperation projects.


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: On 24 May, new reports indicated Kim Jong-il had ordered the armed forces of North Korea to be ready for combat a week before. The next day, North Korea released a list of measures that it will take in response to South Korea's sanctions. This would include the cutting of all ties and communications, except for the Kaesong industrial complex. They would revert to a wartime footing in regard to South Korea and disallow any South Korean ships or aircraft to enter the territory of North Korea.


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: On 27 May, North Korea announced that it would scrap an agreement aimed at preventing accidental naval clashes with South Korea. It also announced that any South Korean vessel found crossing the disputed maritime border would be immediately attacked.


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: On 28 May, KCNA stated that "it is the United States that is behind the case of "Cheonan". The investigation was steered by the U.S. from its very outset." It also accused the United States of manipulating the investigation and named the administration of US President Barack Obama directly of using the case for "escalating instability in the Asia-Pacific region, containing big powers and emerging unchallenged in the region."


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: On 29 May, North Korea warned the United Nations to be wary of evidence presented in the international investigation, likening the case to the claims of weapons of mass destruction that the United States used to justify its war against Iraq in 2003 and stated that "the U.S. is seriously mistaken if it thinks it can occupy the Korean Peninsula just as it did Iraq with sheer lies." The North Korea foreign minister warned the United Nations Security Council of risks of being "misused". It also accused the United States of joining South Korea in putting "China into an awkward position and keep hold on Japan and South Korea as its servants."


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: High ranking North Korean military officials denounced the international investigation and said North Korea does not have the type of submarines that supposedly carried out the attack. They also dismissed claims regarding writings on the torpedo and clarified that "when we put serial numbers on weapons, we engrave them with machines." South Korea's Yonhap News Agency quoted South Korean officials as saying that North Korea has about ten of the .


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: On 2 November, KCNA published a detailed rebuttal of the South Korean joint investigative team report.


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: The "Rodong Sinmun" claimed that the "probability of a torpedo attack on (the) Cheonan Warship" was 0%.


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: When the official report on the sinking was released on 20 May there was widespread international condemnation of North Korea's actions. China was one of few exceptions, simply terming the incident "unfortunate" and "urged stability on the peninsula". This was speculated to be China's concern for instability in the Korean Peninsula. Researchers at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, drawing on interviews with Chinese officials and foreign policy experts, later argued that there existed an "inability of the top leadership to reach a consensus on how to react" to the issue, contributing to its comparatively restrained response.


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: On 14 June 2010, South Korea presented the results of its investigation to United Nations Security Council members.<ref name="UN-S/2010/281"></ref> In a subsequent meeting with council members North Korea stated that it had nothing to do with the incident.<ref name="UN-S/2010/294"></ref> On 9 July 2010 the United Nations Security Council made a Presidential Statement condemning the attack but without identifying the attacker. China had resisted U.S. calls for a tougher line against North Korea.


title: ROKS Cheonan sinking

text: A member of the North Korean cabinet who defected to the south in 2011 said on 7 December 2012 that the crew of the North Korean submarine which sank "Cheonan" had been honored by the North Korean military and government. The defector, known by the alias "Ahn Cheol-nam", stated that the captain, co-captain, engineer, and boatswain of the mini-sub which sank "Cheonan" had been awarded "Hero of the DPRK" in October 2010.


title: History of the Puritans in North America

text: In the early 17th century, thousands of English Puritans colonized North America, almost all in New England. Puritans were intensely devout members of the Church of England who believed that the Church of England was insufficiently reformed, retaining too much of its Roman Catholic doctrinal roots, and who therefore opposed royal ecclesiastical policy. Most Puritans were "non-separating Puritans" who did not advocate setting up separate congregations distinct from the Church of England; these were later called Nonconformists. A small minority of Puritans were "separating Puritans" who advocated setting up congregations outside the Church. The Pilgrims were a Separatist group, and they established the Plymouth Colony in 1620. Puritans went chiefly to New England, but small numbers went to other English colonies up and down the Atlantic.


text: Puritans played the leading roles in establishing the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1629, the Saybrook Colony in 1635, the Connecticut Colony in 1636, and the New Haven Colony in 1638. The Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations was established by settlers expelled from Massachusetts because of their unorthodox religious opinions. Puritans were also active in New Hampshire before it became a crown colony in 1691. Puritanism ended early in the 18th century and before 1740 was replaced by the much milder Congregational church.


text: Puritanism was a Protestant movement that emerged in 16th-century England with the goal of transforming it into a godly society by reforming or purifying the Church of England of all remaining Roman Catholic teachings and practices. During the reign of Elizabeth I, Puritans were for the most part tolerated within the established church. Like Puritans, most English Protestants at the time were Calvinist in their theology, and many bishops and Privy Council members were sympathetic to Puritan objectives. The major point of controversy between Puritans and church authorities was over liturgical ceremonies Puritans thought too Catholic, such as wearing clerical vestments, kneeling to receive Holy Communion, and making the sign of the cross during baptism.


text: During the reign of James I, most Puritans were no longer willing to wait for further church reforms and separated from the Church of England. Since the law required everyone to attend parish services, these Separatists were vulnerable to criminal prosecution and some such as Henry Barrow and John Greenwood were executed. To escape persecution and worship freely, some Separatists migrated to the Netherlands. Nevertheless, most Puritans remained within the Church of England.


text: Under Charles I, Calvinist teachings were undermined and bishops became less tolerant of Puritan views and more willing to enforce the use of controversial ceremonies. New controls were placed on Puritan preaching, and some ministers were suspended or removed from their livings. Increasingly, many Puritans concluded that they had no choice but to emigrate.


text: In 1620, a group of Separatists known as the Pilgrims settled in New England and established the Plymouth Colony. The Pilgrims originated as a dissenting congregation in Scrooby led by Richard Clyfton, John Robinson and William Brewster. This congregation was subject to persecution with members being imprisoned or having property seized. Fearing greater persecution, the group left England and settled in the Dutch city of Leiden. In 1620, after receiving a patent from the London Company, the Pilgrims left for New England on board the "Mayflower", landing at Plymouth Rock. The Pilgrims are remembered for creating the Mayflower Compact, a social contract based on Puritan political theory and in imitation of the church covenant they had made in Scrooby.


text: Two of the Pilgrim settlers in Plymouth Colony - Robert Cushman and Edward Winslow - believed that Cape Ann would be a profitable location for a settlement. They, therefore, organized a company named the Dorchester Company and in 1622 sailed to England seeking a patent from the London Company giving them permission to settle there. They were successful and were granted the Sheffield Patent (named after Edmund, Lord Sheffield, the member of the Plymouth Company who granted the patent). On the basis of this patent, Roger Conant led a group of fishermen from the area later called Gloucester to found Salem in 1626, being replaced as governor by John Endecott in 1628 or 1629.


text: Other Puritans were convinced that New England could provide a religious refuge, and the enterprise was reorganized as the Massachusetts Bay Company. In March 1629, it succeeded in obtaining from King Charles a royal charter for the establishment of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. In 1630, the first ships of the Great Puritan Migration sailed to the New World, led by John Winthrop.


text: During the crossing, Winthrop preached a sermon entitled "A Model of Christian Charity", in which he told his followers that they had entered a covenant with God according to which he would cause them to prosper if they maintained their commitment to God. In doing so, their new colony would become a "City upon a Hill", meaning that they would be a model to all the nations of Europe as to what a properly reformed Christian commonwealth should look like.


text: Most of the Puritans who emigrated settled in the New England area. However, the Great Migration of Puritans was relatively short-lived and very large. It began in earnest in 1629 with the founding of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and ended in 1642 with the start of the English Civil War when King Charles I effectively shut off emigration to the colonies. Emigration was officially restricted to conforming churchmen in December 1634 by his Privy Council. From 1629 through 1643, approximately 21,000 Puritans immigrated to New England.


text: The Great Migration of Puritans to New England was primarily an exodus of families. Between 1630 and 1640, over 13,000 men, women, and children sailed to Massachusetts. The religious and political factors behind the Great Migration influenced the demographics of the emigrants. Groups of young men seeking economic success predominated the Virginia colonies, whereas Puritan ships were laden with "ordinary" people, old and young, families as well as individuals. Just a quarter of the emigrants were in their twenties when they boarded ships in the 1630s, making young adults a minority in New England settlements. The New World Puritan population was more of a cross-section in the age of the English population than those of other colonies. This meant that the Massachusetts Bay Colony retained a relatively normal population composition. In the colony of Virginia, the ratio of colonist men to women was 4:1 in the early decades and at least 2:1 in later decades, and only limited intermarriage took place with Native women. By contrast, nearly half of the Puritan immigrants to the New World were women, and there was very little intermarriage with Native Americans. The majority of families who traveled to Massachusetts Bay were families in progress, with parents who were not yet through with their reproductive years and whose continued fertility made New England's population growth possible. The women who emigrated were critical agents in the success of the establishment and maintenance of the Puritan colonies in North America. Success in the early colonial economy depended largely on labor, which was conducted by members of Puritan families.


text: The struggle between the assertive Church of England and various Presbyterian and Puritan groups extended throughout the English realm in the 17th Century, prompting not only the -emigration of British Presbyterians from Ireland to North America (the "Scotch-Irish"), but prompting emigration from Bermuda, England's second-oldest overseas territory. Roughly 10,000 Bermudians emigrated before 1775. Most of these went to the American colonies, founding, or contributing to settlements throughout the South, especially. Many went to the Bahamas, where a number of Bermudian Independent Puritan families, under the leadership of William Sayle, had established the colony of Eleuthera in 1648.


text: Emigration resumed under the rule of Cromwell in the 1650s, but not in large numbers as there was no longer any need to escape persecution in England. Some Puritans returned to England during the English Civil War. They were on the winning side and remained under Oliver Cromwell's Puritanical rule.


text: Puritan dominance in the New World lasted until the early 1700s. That era can be broken down into three parts: the generation of John Cotton and Richard Mather, 1630–62 from the founding to the Restoration, years of virtual independence and nearly autonomous development; the generation of Increase Mather, 1662–89 from the Restoration and the Halfway Covenant to the Glorious Revolution, years of struggle with the British crown; and the generation of Cotton Mather, 1689–1728 from the overthrow of Edmund Andros (in which Cotton Mather played a part) and the new charter, mediated by Increase Mather, to the death of Cotton Mather.


text: Once in New England, the Puritans established Congregational churches that subscribed to Reformed theology. The Savoy Declaration, a modification of the Westminster Confession of Faith, was adopted as a confessional statement by the churches in Massachusetts in 1680 and the churches of Connecticut in 1708.


text: The Cambridge Platform describes Congregationalist polity as practiced by Puritans in the 17th century. Every congregation was founded upon a church covenant, a written agreement signed by all members in which they agreed to uphold congregational principles, to be guided by "sola scriptura" in their decision making, and to submit to church discipline. The right of each congregation to elect its own officers and manage its own affairs was upheld.


text: For church offices, Puritans imitated the model developed in Calvinist Geneva. There were two major offices: elder (or presbyter) and deacon. Initially, there were two types of elders. Ministers, whose responsibilities included preaching and administering the sacraments, were referred to as teaching elders. Large churches would have two ministers, one to serve as pastor and the other to serve as teacher. Prominent laymen would be elected for life as ruling elders. Ruling elders governed the church alongside teaching elders, and, while they could not administer the sacraments, they could preach. In the beginning, deacons largely handled financial matters. By the middle of the 17th century, most churches no longer had lay elders, and deacons assisted the minister in leading the church. Other than elders and deacons, congregations also elected messengers to represent them in synods (church councils) for the purpose of offering non-binding advisory opinions.


text: The essential Puritan belief was that people are saved by grace alone and not by any merit from doing good works. At the same time, Puritans also believed that men and women "could labor to make themselves "appropriate" vessels of saving grace" [emphasis in original]. They could accomplish this through Bible reading, prayer, and doing good works. This doctrine was called preparationism, and nearly all Puritans were preparationists to some extent. The process of conversion was described in different ways, but most ministers agreed that there were three essential stages. The first stage was humiliation or sorrow for having sinned against God. The second stage was justification or adoption characterized by a sense of having been forgiven and accepted by God through Christ's mercy. The third stage was sanctification, the ability to live a holy life out of gladness toward God.


text: Puritans believed churches should be composed of "visible saints" or the elect. To ensure that only regenerated persons were admitted as full members, New England churches required prospective members to provide a conversion narrative describing their personal conversion experience. All settlers were required to attend church services and were subject to church discipline. The Lord's Supper, however, was reserved to full members only. Puritans practiced infant baptism, but only church members in full communion could present their children for baptism. Members' children were considered part of the church and covenant by birth and were entitled to baptism. Nevertheless, these children would not enjoy the full privileges of church membership until they provided a public account of conversion.


text: Church services were held in the morning and afternoon on Sunday, and there was usually a mid-week service. The ruling elders and deacons sat facing the congregation on a raised seat. Men and women sat on opposite sides of the meeting house, and children sat in their own section under the oversight of a tithingman, who corrected unruly children (or sleeping adults) with a long staff. The pastor opened the service with prayer for about 15 minutes, the teacher then read and explained the selected Bible passage, and a ruling elder then led in singing a Psalm, usually from the Bay Psalm Book. The pastor then preached for an hour or more, and the teacher ended the service with prayer and benediction. In churches with only one minister, the morning sermon was devoted to the argument (interpreting the biblical text and justifying that interpretation) and the afternoon sermon to its application (the lessons that could be drawn from the text for the individual or for the collective community).


text: For Puritans, the people of society were bound together by a social covenant (such as Plymouth's Mayflower Compact, Connecticut's Fundamental Orders, New Haven's Fundamental Agreement, and Massachusetts' colonial charter). Having entered into such a covenant, eligible voters were responsible for choosing qualified men to govern and to obey such rulers, who ultimately received their authority from God and were responsible for using it to promote the common good. If the ruler was evil, however, the people were justified in opposing and rebelling against him. Such notions helped New Englanders justify the English Puritan Revolution of the 1640s, the Glorious Revolution of 1688, and the American Revolution of 1775.


text: The Puritans also believed they were in a national covenant with God. They believed they were chosen by God to help redeem the world by their total obedience to his will. If they were true to the covenant, they would be blessed; if not, they would fail. Within this worldview, it was the government's responsibility to enforce moral standards and ensure true religious worship was established and maintained. In the Puritan colonies, the Congregational church functioned as a state religion. In Massachusetts, no new church could be established without the permission of the colony's existing Congregational churches and the government. Likewise, Connecticut allowed only one church per town or parish, which had to be Congregational.


text: All residents in Massachusetts and Connecticut were required to pay taxes for the support of the Congregational churches, even if they were religious dissenters. The franchise was limited to Congregational church members in Massachusetts and New Haven, but voting rights were more extensive in Connecticut and Plymouth. In Connecticut, church attendance on Sundays was mandatory (for both church members and non-members), and those who failed to attend were fined.


text: There was a greater separation of church and state in the Puritan commonwealths than existed anywhere in Europe at the time. In England, the king was head of both church and state, bishops sat in Parliament and the Privy Council, and church officials exercised many secular functions. In New England, secular matters were handled only by civil authorities, and those who held offices in the church were barred from holding positions in the civil government. When dealing with unorthodox persons, Puritans believed that the church, as a spiritual organization, was limited to "attempting to persuade the individual of his error, to warn him of the dangers he faced if he publicly persisted in it, and—as a last resort—to expel him from the spiritual society by ex-communication." Citizens who lost church membership by ex-communication retained the right to vote in civil affairs.


text: The Puritans did not come to America to establish a theocracy, but neither did they institute religious freedom. Puritans believed that the state was obligated to protect society from heresy, and it was empowered to use corporal punishment, banishment, and execution. New England magistrates did not investigate private views, but they did take action against public dissent from the religious establishment. Puritan sentiments were expressed by Nathaniel Ward in "The Simple Cobbler of Agawam": "all Familists, Antinomians, Anabaptists, and other Enthusiasts shall have free Liberty to keep away from us, and such as will come [shall have liberty] to be gone as fast as they can, the sooner the better."


text: The period 1658–1692 saw the execution of Quakers (see Boston martyrs) and the imprisonment of Baptists. Quakers were initially banished by colonial courts, but they often returned in defiance of authorities. Historian Daniel Boorstin stated, "the Puritans had not sought out the Quakers in order to punish them; the Quakers had come in quest of punishment."


text: For Puritans, the family was the "locus of spiritual and civic development and protection", and marriage was the foundation of the family and, therefore, society. Unlike in England, where people were married by ministers in the church according to the "Book of Common Prayer", Puritans saw no biblical justification for church weddings or the exchange of wedding rings. While marriage held great religious significance for Puritans—they saw it as a covenant relationship freely entered into by both man and wife—the wedding was viewed as a private, contractual event officiated by a civil magistrate either in the home of the magistrate or a member of the bridal party. Massachusetts ministers were not legally permitted to solemnize marriages until 1686 after the colony had been placed under royal control, but by 1726 it had become the accepted tradition.


text: According to scholars Gerald Moran and Maris Vinovskis, some historians argue that Puritan child-rearing was repressive. Central to this argument is the views of John Robinson, the Pilgrims' first pastor, who wrote in a 1625 treatise "Of Children and Their Education", "And surely there is in all children, though not alike, a stubbornness, and stoutness of mind arising from natural pride, which must, in the first place, be broken and beaten down." Moran and Vinovskis, however, argue that Robinson's views were not representative of 17th-century Puritans. They write that Puritan parents "exercised an authoritative, not an authoritarian, mode of child-rearing" that aimed to cultivate godly affections and reason, with corporal punishment used as a last resort.


text: According to historian Bruce C. Daniels, the Puritans were "[o]ne of the most literate groups in the early modern world", with about 60 percent of New England able to read. At a time when the literacy rate in England was less than 30 percent, the Puritan leaders of colonial New England believed children should be educated for both religious and civil reasons, and they worked to achieve universal literacy. In 1642, Massachusetts required heads of households to teach their wives, children, and servants basic reading and writing so that they could read the Bible and understand colonial laws. In 1647, the government required all towns with 50 or more households to hire a teacher and towns of 100 or more households to hire a grammar school instructor to prepare promising boys for college. Boys interested in the ministry were often sent to colleges such as Harvard (founded in 1636) or Yale (founded in 1707).


text: The Puritans anticipated the educational theories of John Locke and other Enlightenment thinkers. Like Locke's blank slate, Puritans believed that a child's mind was "an empty receptacle, one that had to be infused with the knowledge gained from careful instruction and education."


text: The Puritans in the United States were great believers in education. They wanted their children to be able to read the Bible themselves, and interpret it themselves, rather than have to have a clergyman tell them what it says and means. This then leads to thinking for themselves, which is the basis of democracy.


text: The Puritans, almost immediately after arriving in America in 1630, set up schools for their sons. They also set up what were called dame schools for their daughters, and in other cases taught their daughters at home how to read. As a result, Americans were the most literate people in the world. By the time of the American Revolution, there were 40 newspapers in the United States (at a time when there were only two cities – New York and Philadelphia – with as many as 20,000 people in them).


text: The Puritans also set up a college (Harvard University) only six years after arriving in the United States. By the time of the Revolution, the United States had 10 colleges (when England had only two).


text: Puritans did not celebrate traditional holidays such as Christmas, Easter, or May Day. They also did not observe personal annual holidays, such as birthdays or anniversaries. They did, however, celebrate special occasions such as military victories, harvests, ordinations, weddings, and births. These celebrations consisted of food and conversation. Beyond special occasions, the tavern was an important place for people to gather for fellowship on a regular basis.


text: Increase Mather wrote that dancing was "a natural expression of joy; so that there is no more sin in it than in laughter." Puritans generally discouraged mixed or "promiscuous" dancing between men and women, which according to Mather would lead to "unchaste touches and gesticulations. .. [that] have a palpable tendency to that which is evil." Some ministers, including John Cotton, thought that mixed dancing was appropriate under special circumstances, but all agreed it was a practice not to be encouraged. Dancing was also discouraged at weddings or on holidays (especially dancing around the Maypole) and was illegal in taverns.


text: Puritans had no theological objections to sports and games as long as they did not involve gambling (which eliminated activities such as billiards, shuffleboard, horse racing, bowling, and cards). They also opposed blood sports, such as cockfighting, cudgel-fighting, and bear-baiting. Team sports, such as football, were problematic because "they encouraged idleness, produced injuries, and created bitter rivalries." Hunting and fishing were approved because they were productive. Other sports were encouraged for promoting civic virtue, such as competitions of marksmanship, running, and wrestling held within militia companies.


text: Only a few activities were completely condemned by Puritans. They were most opposed to the theater. According to historian Bruce Daniels, plays were seen as "false recreations because they exhausted rather than relaxed the audience and actors" and also "wasted labor, led to wantonness and homosexuality, and invariably were represented by Puritans as a foreign—particularly French or Italian—disease of a similar enervating nature as syphilis." All forms of gambling were illegal. Not only were card-playing, dice throwing and other forms of gambling seen as contrary to the values of "family, work, and honesty", they were religiously offensive because gamblers implicitly asked God to intervene in trivial matters, violating the Third Commandment against taking the Lord's name in vain.


text: Slavery was legal in colonial New England; however, the slave population was less than three percent of the labor force. Most Puritan clergy accepted the existence of slavery since it was a practice recognized in the Bible (see The Bible and Slavery). They also acknowledged that all people—whether white, black or Native American—were persons with souls who might receive saving grace. For this reason, slaves and free black people were eligible for full church membership; though, meetinghouses and burial grounds were racially segregated. The Puritan influence over society meant that slaves were treated better in New England than in the Southern colonies. In Massachusetts, the law gave slaves "all the liberties and Christian usages which the law of God established in Israel doth morally require". As a result, slaves received the same protections against mistreatment as white servants. Slave marriages were legally recognized, and slaves were also entitled to a trial by jury, even if accused of a crime by their master.


text: In 1700, Massachusetts judge and Puritan Samuel Sewall published "The Selling of Joseph", the first antislavery tract written in America. In it, Sewall condemned slavery and the slave trade and refuted many of the era's typical justifications for slavery.


text: In the decades leading up to the American Civil War, abolitionists such as Theodore Parker, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau and Frederick Douglass repeatedly used the Puritan heritage of the country to bolster their cause. The most radical anti-slavery newspaper, "The Liberator", invoked the Puritans and Puritan values over a thousand times. Parker, in urging New England Congressmen to support the abolition of slavery, wrote that "The son of the Puritan ... is sent to Congress to stand up for Truth and Right ..."


text: Roger Williams, a Separating Puritan minister, arrived in Boston in 1631. He was immediately invited to become the teacher at the Boston church, but he refused the invitation on the grounds that the congregation had not separated from the Church of England. He then was invited to become the teacher of the church at Salem but was blocked by Boston political leaders, who objected to his separatism. He thus spent two years with his fellow Separatists in the Plymouth Colony but ultimately came into conflict with them and returned to Salem, where he became the unofficial assistant pastor to Samuel Skelton.


text: Williams held many controversial views that irritated the colony's political and religious leaders. He criticized the Puritan clergy's practice of meeting regularly for consultation, seeing in this a drift toward Presbyterianism. William's concern for the purity of the church led him to oppose the mixing of the elect and the unregenerate for worship and prayer, even when the unregenerate were family members of the elect. He also believed that Massachusetts rightfully belonged to the Native Americans and that the king had no authority to give it to the Puritans. Because he feared that government interference in religion would corrupt the church, Williams rejected the government's authority to punish violations of the first four Ten Commandments and believed that magistrates should not tender an oaths to unconverted persons, which would have effectively abolished civil oaths.


text: In 1634, Skelton died, and the Salem congregation called Williams to be its pastor. In July 1635, however, he was brought before the General Court to answer for his views on oaths. Williams refused to back down, and the General Court warned Salem not to install him in any official position. In response, Williams decided that he could not maintain communion with the other churches in the colony nor with the Salem church unless they joined him in severing ties with the other churches. Caught between Williams and the General Court, the Salem congregation rejected Williams's extreme views.


text: In October, Williams was once again called before the General Court and refused to change his opinions. Williams was ordered to leave the colony and given until spring to do so, provided he ceased spreading his views. Unwilling to do so, the government issued orders for his immediate return to England in January 1636, but John Winthrop warned Williams, allowing him to escape. In 1636, the exiled Williams founded the colony of Providence Plantation. He was one of the first Puritans to advocate separation of church and state, and Providence Plantation was one of the first places in the Christian world to recognize freedom of religion.


text: Anne Hutchinson and her family moved from Boston, Lincolnshire, to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1634, following their Puritan minister John Cotton. Cotton became the teacher of the Boston church, working alongside its pastor John Wilson, and Hutchinson joined the congregation. In 1635, Hutchinson began holding meetings in her home to summarize the previous week's sermons for women who had been absent. Such gatherings were not unusual.


text: In October 1635, Wilson returned from a trip to England, and his preaching began to concern Hutchinson. Like most of the clergy in Massachusetts, Wilson taught preparationism, the belief that human actions were "a means of preparation for God’s grant of saving grace and ... evidence of sanctification." Cotton's preaching, however, emphasized the inevitability of God's will rather than human preparatory action. These two positions were a matter of emphases, as neither Cotton nor Wilson believed that good works could save a person. For Hutchinson, however, the difference was significant, and she began to criticize Wilson in her private meetings.


text: In the summer of 1636, Hutchinson's meetings were attracting powerful men such as William Aspinwall, William Coddington, John Coggeshall, and the colony's governor, Henry Vane. The group's credibility was increased due to the perceived support of Cotton and the definite support of Hutchinson's brother-in-law, the minister John Wheelwright. By this time, Hutchinson was criticizing all the ministers in the colony, with the exception of Cotton and Wheelwright, for teaching legalism and preaching a "covenant of works" rather than a "covenant of grace". While denouncing the Puritan clergy as Arminians, Hutchinson maintained "that assurance of salvation was conveyed not by action but by an essentially mystical experience of grace—an inward conviction of the coming of the Spirit to the individual that bore no relationship to moral conduct." By rejecting adherence to the moral law, Hutchinson was teaching Antinomianism, according to her clerical opponents.


text: Tensions continued to increase in the Boston church between Wilson and Hutchinson's followers, who formed a majority of the members. In January 1637, they were nearly successful in censuring him, and in the months that followed, they left the meeting house whenever Wilson began to preach. The General Court ordered a day of fasting and prayer to help calm tensions, but Wheelwright preached a sermon on that day that further inflamed tensions, for which he was found guilty of sedition. Because Governor Vane was one of Hutchinson's followers, the general election of 1637 became a battlefront in the controversy, and Winthrop was elected to replace Vane.


text: A synod of New England clergy was held in August 1637. The ministers defined 82 errors attributed to Hutchinson and her followers. It also discouraged private religious meetings and criticizing the clergy. In November, Wheelwright was banished from the colony. Hutchinson herself was called before the General Court where she ably defended herself. Nevertheless, she was ultimately convicted and sentenced to banishment from the colony due in part to her claims of receiving direct personal revelations from God. Other supporters were disenfranchised or forbidden from bearing arms unless they admitted their errors. Hutchinson received a church trial in March 1638 in which the Boston congregation switched sides and unanimously voted for Hutchinson's ex-communication. This effectively ended the controversy.


text: While often described as a struggle for religious liberty, historian Francis Bremer states that this is a misunderstanding. Bremer writes, "Anne Hutchinson was every bit as intolerant as her enemies. The struggle was over which of two competing views would be crowned and enforced as New England orthodoxy. As a consequence of the crisis she precipitated, the range of views that were tolerated in the Bay actually narrowed."


text: In the aftermath of the crisis, ministers realized the need for greater communication between churches and the standardization of preaching. As a consequence, nonbinding ministerial conferences to discuss theological questions and address conflicts became more frequent in the following years. A more substantial innovation was the implementation of the "third way of communion", a method of isolating a dissident or heretical church from neighboring churches. Members of an offending church would be unable to worship or receive the Lord's Supper in other churches.


text: As time passes and different perspectives arise within the scholarship of witchcraft and its involvement in Puritan New England, many scholars have stepped forth to contribute to what we know in regards to this subject. For instance, diverse perspectives involving the witch trials have been argued involving gender, race, economics, religion, and the social oppression that Puritans lived through that explain in a more in-depth way how Puritanism contributed to the trials and executions.


text: Puritan fears, beliefs, and institutions were the perfect storm that fueled the witch craze in towns such as Salem from an interdisciplinary and anthropological approach. From a gendered approach, offered by Carol Karlsen and Elizabeth Reis, the question of why witches were primarily women did not fully surface until after the second wave of feminism in the 1980s. Some believe that women who were gaining economic or social power, specifically in the form of land inheritance, were at a higher risk of being tried as witches. Others maintain that females were more susceptible to being witches as the Puritans believed that the weak body was a pathway to the soul which both God and the Devil fought for. Due to the Puritan belief that female bodies "lacked the strength and vitality" compared to male bodies, females were more susceptible to make a choice to enter a covenant with Satan as their fragile bodies could not protect their souls.


text: From a racial perspective, Puritans believed that African Americans and Native Americans living within the colonies were viewed as "true witches" from an anthropological sense as Blacks were considered "inherently evil creatures, unable to control their connection to Satanic wickedness." Another contribution made to scholarship includes the religious perspective that historians attempt to understand its effect on the witch trials. J.P. Demos, a major scholar in the field of Puritan witchcraft studies, maintains that the intense and oppressive nature of Puritan religion can be viewed as the main culprit in the Colonial witch trials.


text: While many scholars provide different arguments to Puritanism and witchcraft, all of the various camps mentioned rely on each other in numerous ways in order to build on our understanding of the witch craze in early American History. As more perspectives from different scholars add to the knowledge of the Puritan involvement in the witch trials, a more complete picture and history will form.


text: The decline of the Puritans and the Congregational churches was brought about first through practices such as the Half-Way Covenant and second through the rise of dissenting Baptists, Quakers, Anglicans and Presbyterians in the late 17th and early 18th centuries.


text: There is no consensus on when the Puritan era ended, though it is agreed that it was over by 1740. By this time, the Puritan tradition was splintering into different strands of pietists, rationalists, and conservatives. Historian Thomas S. Kidd argues that after 1689 and the success of the Glorious Revolution,


text: Denominations that are directly descended from the Puritan churches of New England include the Congregationalist Churches, a branch of the wider Reformed tradition: the United Church of Christ, the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches, and the Conservative Congregational Christian Conference.


title: Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt

text: Ibrahim Pasha (; "Ibrāhīm Bāshā"; 1789 – 10 November 1848) was a Ottoman general in the Egyptian army and the eldest son of Muhammad Ali, the Wāli and unrecognised Khedive of Egypt and Sudan. He served as a general in the Egyptian army that his father established during his reign, taking his first command of Egyptian forces when he was merely a teenager. In the final year of his life, he succeeded his still-living father as ruler of Egypt and Sudan, owing to the latter's ill health. His rule also extended over the other dominions that his father had brought under Egyptian rule, namely Syria, Hejaz, Morea, Thasos, and Crete. Ibrahim pre-deceased his father, dying 10 November 1848, only four months after acceding to the throne. Upon his father's death the following year, the Egyptian throne passed to Ibrahim's nephew (son of Muhammad Ali's second oldest son), Abbas.


title: Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt

text: Ibrahim remains one of the most celebrated members of the Muhammad Ali dynasty, particularly for his impressive military victories, including several crushing defeats of the Ottoman Empire. Among Egyptian historians, Ibrahim, his father Muhammad Ali, and his son Ismail the Magnificent are held in far higher esteem than other rulers from the dynasty, who were largely viewed as indolent and corrupt; this is largely the result of efforts by his grandson Fuad I of Egypt to ensure the positive portrayal of his paternal ancestors in the Royal Archives that he created, which were the primary source for Egyptian history from the 1920s until the 1970s. Today, a statue of Ibrahim occupies a prominent position in Egypt's capital, Cairo.


title: Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt

text: His mother was Emine, born at Nusretli in 1770 and died in Cairo 1824. She was the widow of Ottoman official Serezli Ali Bey, and a daughter of the Ottoman Major Ali Aga of Nusretli. Ibrahim was her first-born son with Muhammad Ali of Egypt (her first born was Princess Tawhida). It is further known that he was born in the village of "Nusratli" (today Nikiforos), near the town of Drama, the Ottoman province of Rumelia, in what is now the eastern parts of Macedonian region in Greece.


title: Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt

text: In 1805, during his father's struggle to establish himself as ruler of Egypt, the adolescent Ibrahim, at 16, was sent as a hostage to the Ottoman capitan Pasha. However, Ibrahim was allowed to return to Egypt once his father was recognised as Wāli of Egypt by the Ottoman Sultan, and had defeated the British military expedition of Major General Alexander Mackenzie Fraser.


title: Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt

text: When Muhammad Ali went to Arabia to prosecute the war against the Al Saud in 1813, Ibrahim was left in command of Upper Egypt. He continued the war with the broken power of the Mameluks, whom he suppressed. In 1816 he succeeded his brother Tusun Pasha in command of the Egyptian forces in Arabia.


title: Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt

text: Muhammad Ali had already begun to introduce European discipline into his army, and Ibrahim had probably received some training, but his first campaign was conducted more in the old Asiatic style than his later operations. The campaign lasted two years, and ended in the destruction of the House of Saud as a political power. Muhammad Ali landed at Yanbu, the port of Medina, in 1813. The holy cities had been recovered from the Saudis, and Ibrahim's task was to follow them into the desert of Nejd and destroy their fortresses. Such training as the Egyptian troops had received, and their artillery, gave them a marked superiority in the open field. But the difficulty of crossing the desert to the Saudis stronghold of Diriyah, some 400 miles east of Medina, made the conquest a very arduous one. Ibrahim displayed great energy and tenacity, sharing all the hardships of his army, and never allowing himself to be discouraged by failure. By the end of September 1818 he had forced the Saudi leader to surrender, and had taken Diriyah, which he sacked.


title: Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt

text: On 11 December 1819 he made a triumphal entry into Cairo. After his return Ibrahim gave effective support to the Frenchman, Colonel Sève (Suleiman Pasha), who was employed to drill the army on the European model. Ibrahim set an example by submitting to be drilled as a recruit. In 1824, Muhammad Ali was appointed governor of the Morea (the Peloponnese peninsula in southern Greece) by Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II. Mahmud actually required the assistance of the well-trained Egyptian army against the contemporary Greek Revolution, which his forces had been unable to quell: in 1822 the Greeks had decisively defeated an army of some 30,000 men under Sultanzade Mahmud Dramali Pasha.


title: Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt

text: Ibrahim was sent to the Peloponnese with a squadron and an army of 17,000 men. The expedition sailed on 4 July 1824, but was for some months unable to do more than come and go between Rhodes and Crete. The fear of the Greek fire ships stopped his way to the Morea. When the Greek sailors mutinied from want of pay, Ibrahim was able to land at Modon on 26 February 1825. He remained in the Morea until the capitulation of 1 October 1828 was forced on him by the intervention of the Western powers.


title: Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt

text: He defeated the Greeks in the open field, and though the siege of Missolonghi proved costly to his own troops and to the Ottoman forces who operated with him, he brought it to a successful termination on 24 April 1826. But he was defeated in Mani three times in a row. The Greek guerrilla bands harassed his army, and in revenge he desolated the country and sent thousands of the inhabitants into slavery in Egypt. These measures of repression aroused great indignation in Europe and led to the intervention of the naval squadrons of the United Kingdom, the Restored Kingdom of France and Imperial Russia in the Battle of Navarino (20 October 1827). Their victory was followed by the landing of a French expeditionary force in the so-called Morea expedition. By the terms of the capitulation of 1 October 1828, Ibrahim evacuated the country.


title: Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt

text: In 1831, his father's quarrel with the Porte having become flagrant, Ibrahim was sent to conquer Syria. He took Acre after a severe siege on 27 May 1832, occupied Damascus, defeated an Ottoman army at Homs on 8 July, defeated another Ottoman army at Beilan on 29 July, invaded Asia Minor, and finally routed the Grand Vizier Reşid Mehmed Pasha at Konya on 21 December. It was there in Syria where he met Umar Tal the mystic, according to accounts Umar Tal healed the son of Ibrahim Pasha from a deadly fever. Umar Tal was inspired by Ibrahim Pasha, when Umar returned to Sokoto he followed the trends set by the Pasha. Umar Tal later became the commander of the Toucouleur in what is now Guinea, Senegal, and Mali.


title: Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt

text: The Convention of Kütahya on 6 May left Syria for a time in the hands of Muhammad Ali. Ibrahim was undoubtedly helped by Colonel Sève and the European officers in his army. After the campaign of 1832 and 1833, Ibrahim remained as governor in Syria. He might perhaps have administered successfully, but the exactions he was compelled to enforce by his father soon caused the popularity of his government to decline and provoked revolts. He was assisted by French officer Beaufort d'Hautpoul from 1834 to 1837, who was his Chief-of-Staff.


title: Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt

text: During the 1834 peasants' revolt in Palestine, Ibrahim Pasha besieged the Transjordanian city of Al-Karak for 17 days, in pursuit of the revolt's leader Qasim al-Ahmad. After a hole was blasted into the town's walls in late August, Al-Karak was destroyed and the orchards outside the town were uprooted as punitive measures against the residents for hosting Qasim. Fearing further retaliation from Ibrahim Pasha, the rebel leaders were handed to the Egyptians.


title: Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt

text: In 1838, the Porte felt strong enough to renew the struggle, and war broke out once more. Ibrahim won his last victory for his father at Nezib on 24 June 1839. But the United Kingdom and the Austrian Empire intervened to preserve the integrity of the Ottoman Empire. Their squadrons cut his communications by sea with Egypt, a general revolt isolated him in Syria, and he was finally compelled to evacuate the country in February 1841.


title: Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt

text: The Karakis were to take their revenge from Ibrahim Pasha, 6 years later when the Pasha and his Egyptian army were driven out of Damascus. In 1841, as the Pasha and his troops took the Hajj road from Damascus, they were persistently attacked all the way from Qatraneh to Gaza. The weary army were killed and robbed, and by the time Ibrahim Pasha reached Gaza, the commander had lost most of his army, ammunition and animals.


title: Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt

text: Ibrahim spent the rest of his life in peace, but his health was ruined. In 1846 he paid a visit to Western Europe, where he was received with some respect and a great deal of curiosity. When his father became senile, Ibrahim was appointed Regent in his place. He held his regency from July till the time of his death on 10 November 1848.


title: Methyl tert-butyl ether

text: Methyl "tertiary"-butyl ether (MTBE), also known as methyl tert-butyl ether and "tert"-butyl methyl ether, is an organic compound with a structural formula (CH)COCH. MTBE is a volatile, flammable, and colorless liquid that is sparingly soluble in water. Primarily used as a fuel additive, MTBE is blended into gasoline to increase its octane rating and knock resistance, and reduce unwanted emissions.


title: Methyl tert-butyl ether

text: MTBE is manufactured via the chemical reaction of methanol and isobutylene. Methanol is primarily derived from natural gas, where steam reforming converts the various light hydrocarbons in natural gas (primarily methane) into carbon monoxide and hydrogen. The resulting gases then further react in the presence of a catalyst to form methanol. Isobutylene can be produced through a variety of methods. One process the isomerization of "n"-butane into isobutane, which then undergoes dehydrogenation to form the isobutylene. In the Halcon process, t-Butyl hydroperoxide derived from isobutane oxygenation is reacted with propylene to produce propylene oxide and t-butanol. The t-butanol can be dehydrated to isobutylene.


title: Methyl tert-butyl ether

text: MTBE production in the U.S. peaked in 1999 at 260,000 barrels per day before dropping down to about 50,000 barrels per day and holding steady, mostly for the export market. After the purchase of SABIC, oil giant Saudi Aramco is now considered to be the world's largest producer with an estimated production capacity of 2.37 million metric tons per year (mt/yr). Worldwide production capacity of MTBE in 2018 was estimated to be 35 million metric tons.


title: Methyl tert-butyl ether

text: MTBE is used as a fuel component in fuel for gasoline engines. It is one of a group of chemicals commonly known as oxygenates because they raise the oxygen content of gasoline.


title: Methyl tert-butyl ether

text: In the U.S. MTBE has been used in gasoline at low levels since 1979, replacing tetraethyllead (TEL) as an antiknock (octane rating) additive to prevent engine knocking. Oxygenates also help gasoline burn more completely, reducing tailpipe emissions and dilute or displace gasoline components such as aromatics (e.g., benzene). Before the introduction of other oxygenates and octane enhancers, refiners chose MTBE for its blending characteristics and low cost.


title: Methyl tert-butyl ether

text: Other oxygenates are available as additives for gasoline including ethanol and other ethers such as ETBE.


title: Methyl tert-butyl ether

text: Ethanol has been advertised as a safe alternative by agricultural and other interest groups in the U.S. and Europe. In 2003, California was the first U.S. state to start replacing MTBE with ethanol.


title: Methyl tert-butyl ether

text: An alternative to ethanol is ETBE, which is manufactured from ethanol and isobutene. Its performance as an additive is similar to MTBE, but due to the higher price of ethanol compared to methanol, it is more expensive.


title: Methyl tert-butyl ether

text: Higher quality gasoline is also an alternative, so that additives such as MTBE are unnecessary. Iso-octane itself is used. MTBE plants can be retrofitted to produce iso-octane from isobutylene.


title: Methyl tert-butyl ether

text: MTBE is extensively used in industry as a safer alternative to diethyl ether (which is commonly used in academic research) as the tert-butyl group prevents MTBE from forming potentially explosive peroxides. It also is used as a solvent in academic research, although it is used less commonly than diethyl ether. Although an ether, MTBE is a poor Lewis base and does not support formation of Grignard reagents. It is also unstable toward strong acids. It reacts dangerously with bromine.


title: Methyl tert-butyl ether

text: In a medical procedure called contact dissolution therapy, MTBE is injected directly into the gallbladder to dissolve gallstones.


title: Methyl tert-butyl ether

text: MTBE gives water an unpleasant taste at very low concentrations. MTBE often is introduced into water-supply aquifers by leaking underground storage tanks (USTs) at gasoline stations or by gasoline containing MTBE being spilled onto the ground. The higher water solubility and persistence of MTBE cause it to travel faster and farther than many other components of gasoline when released into an aquifer.


title: Methyl tert-butyl ether

text: MTBE is biodegraded by the action of bacteria. In the proper type of bioreactor, such as a fluidized bed bioreactor, MTBE may be removed rapidly and economically from water to undetectable levels. Activated carbon produced from coconut shells and optimized for MTBE adsorption may reduce MTBE to undetectable levels,<ref name="Carbon: Optimized Activated Carbons for MTBE Removal in POU/POE Systems"> link text </ref> although this level of reduction is likely to occur only in the most ideal circumstances. There are currently no known published cases of any in-situ treatment method that has been capable of reducing contaminant concentrations to baseline (pre-development) conditions within the aquifer soil matrix.


title: Methyl tert-butyl ether

text: According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a cancer research agency of the World Health Organization, MTBE is not classified as a human carcinogen. MTBE may be tasted in water at concentrations of 5–15 µg/L (5-15ppb).


title: Methyl tert-butyl ether

text: As of 2007, researchers have limited data about the health effects of ingestion of MTBE. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has concluded that available data are inadequate to quantify health risks of MTBE at low exposure levels in drinking water, but the data support the conclusion that MTBE is a potential human carcinogen at high doses.<ref name="http://www.epa.gov/mtbe/faq.htm#concerns"></ref>


title: Methyl tert-butyl ether

text: In 2000, EPA drafted plans to phase out the use of MTBE nationwide over four years. Some states enacted MTBE prohibitions without waiting for federal restrictions. California banned MTBE as a gasoline additive in 2002. The State of New York banned the use of MTBE as a "fuel additive", effective in 2004. However, MTBE is still legal in the state for other industrial uses.


title: Methyl tert-butyl ether

text: The Energy Policy Act of 2005, as approved by the U.S. House of Representatives, did not include a provision for shielding MTBE manufacturers from water contamination lawsuits. This provision was first proposed in 2003 and had been thought by some to be a priority of Tom DeLay and Rep. Joe Barton, then chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee. This bill did include a provision that gave MTBE makers, including some major oil companies, $2 billion in transition assistance while MTBE was phased out over the following nine years. Due to opposition in the Senate, the conference report dropped all MTBE provisions. The final bill was signed into law by President George W. Bush. The lack of MTBE liability protection is resulting in a switchover to the use of ethanol as a gasoline additive.


title: Methyl tert-butyl ether

text: MTBE removal from groundwater and soil contamination in the U.S. was estimated to cost from $1 billion to US$30 billion, including removing the compound from aquifers and municipal water supplies and replacing leaky underground oil tanks. In one case, the cost to oil companies to clean up the MTBE in wells belonging to the city of Santa Monica, California was estimated to exceed $200 million. In another case, New York City estimated a $250 million cost for cleanup of a single wellfield in the borough of Queens in 2009. In 2013 a jury awarded the State of New Hampshire $236 million in damages in order to treat groundwater contaminated by MTBE.


title: Methyl tert-butyl ether

text: As of 2016, hundreds of lawsuits are still pending regarding MTBE contamination of public and private drinking water supplies.


title: Methyl tert-butyl ether

text: EPA first listed MTBE in 1998 as a candidate for development of a national Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) standard in drinking water. As of 2020 the agency has not announced whether it will develop an MCL. EPA uses toxicity data in developing MCLs for public water systems.


title: Phaeton (carriage)

text: A phaeton (also phaéton) was a form of sporty open carriage popular in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. Drawn by one or two horses, a phaeton typically featured a minimal very lightly sprung body atop four extravagantly large wheels. With open seating, it was both fast and dangerous, giving rise to its name, drawn from the mythical Phaëthon, son of Helios, who nearly set the Earth on fire while attempting to drive the chariot of the Sun.


title: Phaeton (carriage)

text: With the advent of the automobile, the term was adopted to refer to open touring cars, which were in consequence referred to as phaeton-bodied.


title: Phaeton (carriage)

text: The most impressive but dangerous phaeton was the four-wheeled 'high-flyer', the body of which consisted of a light seat perched above two sets of springs. It was from one of these that the rising poet Thomas Warwick was thrown to his death near the fashionable town of Bath during the 1780s. There was also the heavier mail phaeton used chiefly to carry passengers with luggage and named for its construction, using "mail" springs originally designed for use on mail coaches. The spider phaeton, of American origin and made for gentlemen drivers, was a high and lightly constructed carriage with a covered seat in front and a footman's seat behind. Fashionable phaetons used at horse shows included the Stanhope, typically having a high seat and closed back, and the Tilbury, a two-wheeled carriage with an elaborate spring suspension system, with or without a top. A variation of this type of a carriage is called a "Victoria", with a retractable cover over the rear passenger compartment.


title: Phaeton (carriage)

text: Queen Victoria was particularly associated with the phaeton and there are prints and photos of her driving in them both before and throughout her reign. Its openness put her in danger and there were assassination attempts made on her life while in one by Edward Oxford in 1840 and by Henry Holford in 1846. In her later years she enjoyed travelling in a phaeton drawn by a single donkey or mule, and there are examples of this type in the Royal Collection.


title: Phaeton (carriage)

text: Another was put to use by Queen Elizabeth II each June from 1978 to 2011 during the official Queen's Birthday celebrations, when she traveled to and from Trooping the Colour on Horse Guards Parade in an ivory-mounted phaeton carriage made in 1842 for her great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria.


title: Phaeton (carriage)

text: A social statement of a different kind was made during the 1880s by Valerie, Lady Meux, who defied London Society by driving herself in a high phaeton drawn by zebras. Yet another was the use of such carriages by revolutionaries to carry out the 1907 Tiflis bank robbery.


title: Commercial property

text: Commercial property, also called commercial real estate, investment property or income property, is real estate (buildings or land) intended to generate a profit, either from capital gains or rental income. Commercial property includes office buildings, medical centers, hotels, malls, retail stores, multifamily housing buildings, farm land, warehouses, and garages. In many states, residential property containing more than a certain number of units qualifies as commercial property for borrowing and tax purposes.


title: Commercial property

text: Commercial buildings are buildings that are used for commercial purposes, and include office buildings, warehouses, and retail buildings (e.g. convenience stores, 'big box' stores, and shopping malls). In urban locations, a commercial building may combine functions, such as offices on levels 2–10, with retail on floor 1. When space allocated to multiple functions is significant, these buildings can be called multi-use. Local authorities commonly maintain strict regulations on commercial zoning, and have the authority to designate any zoned area as such; a business must be located in a commercial area or area zoned at least partially for commerce.


title: Commercial property

text: Of these, only the first five are classified as being commercial buildings. Residential income property may also signify multifamily apartments.


title: Commercial property

text: The basic elements of an investment are cash inflows, outflows, timing of cash flows, and risk. The ability to analyze these elements is key in providing services to investors in commercial real estate.


title: Commercial property

text: Cash inflows and outflows are the money that is put into, or received from, the property including the original purchase cost and sale revenue over the entire life of the investment. An example of this sort of investment is a real estate fund.


title: Commercial property

text: The timing of cash inflows and outflows is important to know in order to project periods of positive and negative cash flows. Risk is dependent on market conditions, current tenants, and the likelihood that they will renew their leases year-over-year. It is important to be able to predict the probability that the cash inflows and outflows will be in the amounts predicted, what is the probability that the timing of them will be as predicted, and what the probability is that there may be unexpected cash flows, and in what amounts they might occur.


title: Commercial property

text: The total value of commercial property in the United States was approximately $6 trillion in 2018. The relative strength of the market is measured by the US Commercial Real Estate Index which is composed of eight economic drivers and is calculated weekly,


title: Commercial property

text: According to Real Capital Analytics, a New York real estate research firm, more than $160 billion of commercial properties in the United States are now in default, foreclosure, or bankruptcy. In Europe, approximately half of the €960 billion of debt backed by European commercial real estate is expected to require refinancing in the next three years, according to PropertyMall, a UK‑based commercial property news provider PropertyMall. Additionally, the economic conditions surrounding future interest rate hikes; which could put renewed pressure on valuations, complicate loan refinancing, and impede debt servicing could cause major dislocation in commercial real estate markets.


title: Commercial property

text: However, the contribution to Europe's economy in 2012 can be estimated at around €285 billion according to EPRA and INREV, not to mention social benefits of an efficient real estate sector. It is estimated that commercial property is responsible for securing around 4 million jobs across Europe.


title: Commercial property

text: Typically, a broker will market a property on behalf of the seller. Brokers representing buyers or buyers' representatives identify property meeting a set of criteria set out by the buyer. Types of buyers may include an owner-user, private investor, acquisitions, capital investment, or private equity firms. The buyer or its agents will perform an initial assessment of the physical property, location and potential profitability (if for investment) or adequacy of property for its intended use (if for owner-user).


title: Commercial property

text: If it is determined the prospective investment meets the buyer's criteria, they may signal their intent to move forward with a letter of intent (LOI). Letters of Intent are used to outline the major terms of an offer in order to avoid unnecessary costs of drafting legal documents in the event the parties do not agree to the terms as drafted. Once a Letter of Intent is signed by both parties, a purchase and sale agreement (PSA) is drafted. Not all commercial property transactions utilize a Letter of Intent although it is common. A PSA is a legal agreement between the seller and a single interested buyer which establishes the terms, conditions and timeline of the sale between the buyer and seller. A PSA may be a highly negotiated document with customized terms or may be a standardized contract similar to those used in residential transactions.