Did North Korea Torpedo Oil Rig In US Gulf?

The destruction of a BP oil rig in the Gulf Coast has led to a lot of speculation and rumor-mongering on the Internet, focusing on the possibility that rogue Communist dictatorship North Korea was at fault.

An explosion at the Deepwater Horizon rig on April 20th killed 11 people and eventually collapsed the rig into the Gulf, sending 5,000 barrels of oil a day out and into the water.

Oil is still spilling out into the Gulf at that rate as of this writing.

BP PLC chairman Lamar McKay has blamed “a failed piece of equipment” for what many are saying is a greater natural disaster than the 1989 USS Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska.

While an oil-drilling procedure known as cementing has come under scrutiny as the most probable cause for the catastrophe, bloggers and conspiracy-theorists have taken to their keyboards to fill in alternative explanations.  Some point to the convenient out it gives Barack Obama from drilling domestically, as his core constituency is against the “drill, baby, drill” efforts pushed by Republicans.

Many have concluded that the platform sunk due to sabotage of some nature. No oil spills happened when Hurricane Katrina hit the area in 2005, they note.  A curious point leading people to think sabotage was at fault is the fact that US President Barack Obama has ordered SWAT teams to inspect all platforms and rigs:

This conclusion has been spurred by alleged Kremlin reports that the Obama Administration has ordered a news blackout, preventing reporters from gaining access to the area or discovering information that would confirm or disprove the charges. At least one mainstream news outlet, television station WRAL in Raleigh, North Carolina, has reported the story that quotes heavily from the Russians.

The political angle has not been missed by Republican bloggers and even more supposedly responsible talk radio hosts, like the neo-conservative Mark Levin:

While some say environmental extremists, who have committed acts of terror in the past are responsible, the dominant theory that has emerged is that a North Korean sub torpedoed the rig. The Deepwater Horizon oil platform was owned by Transocean, the largest offshore drilling contractor in the world. It was also built and financed by South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. Ltd., which leads many to think about a North Korean attack.

North Korea has been increasingly aggressive since announcing it has developed nuclear weapons last May. It has waged a heavy cyberwar against the United States, arrested and later released two American journalist it accused of espionage, and has been caught shipping military cargo to rogue African nations. North Korea has also become the clear suspect in the March sinking of a South Korean battleship