President of South Korean Lee Myung-bak attended the mourning ceremony at the South Korean capital Seoul on the 26th, and condole with deep feeling of grief for all ship officers and soldiers died on warship "Tian An". South Korean officials released that at the same day, South Korean government would ask many countries including China for assistance to deal with the follow-up questions of warship "Tian An" in the future.
On the morning of April 26th, accompanied by the Secretary and other officials in South Korea presidential office, Lee Myung-bak arrived in the "Tian An" condolence which was set up in Seoul square. He laid a wreath and incense in silent tribute. Since then, Lee leaved several words in the condolence book: "The Republic of Korea will never forget the great sacrifice you have made." According to original plan, Lee would also attend the farewell ceremony on the 29th of this month.
Prior to this, Prime Minister of South Korean Chung announced that, from April 25th South Korea would enter the "national mourning period" which would last 5 days. And April the 29th of every year is determined to be "national day of mourning". Defense Minister of South Korean, Jin Tairong said to the public that "torpedo attack" was most likely on the 25th.
Though there are some South Korean media thinking that it was North Korea's military hatched and made the tragedy of "Tian An" sinking, but South Korean officials have been trying to avoid releasing the issue of such accusations. On the 26th, a senior South Korean government official said the South Korean government will officially give the detailed information of investigations to China, Japan and Russia after identifying the reason of the ship sinking. And after that they would ask the three countries for assistance in the future.
According to the reports of South Korea's mainstream media, Korean Daily, Lee will go on a two-day visit to China on the 30th before the opening of the Shanghai World Expo. By then, Lee will work with Chinese President Hu Jintao to the summit, which will be the sixth summit between Lee and Hu Jintao.