Kim ordered attack on warship, says US

A new American intelligence analysis of a deadly torpedo attack on a South Korean warship concludes that Kim Jong-il, the ailing leader of North Korea, must have authorised the torpedo assault.

A new American intelligence analysis of a deadly torpedo attack on a South Korean warship concludes that Kim Jong-il, the ailing leader of North Korea, must have authorised the torpedo assault.

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Senior American officials, however, cautioned that the assessment was based on their sense of the political dynamics in North Korea, rather than hard evidence.

"We can't say it is established fact," said one senior American official who was involved in the highly classified assessment, based on information collected by many of the country's 16 intelligence agencies.

"But there is little doubt, based on what we know about the current state of the North Korean leadership and the military."