확인하다: confirm vs. identify

To identify means to recognize something/someone as being a particular person or thing. When you identify AAA as BBB, it means AAA가 BBB임을 확인하다. Take a look at the following example:

• The victim of last night's car car crash was identified as a two-year-old girl from Korea: 지난 밤 자동차 사고의 피해자는 2세 한국 여아로 확인되었다.
  
• It has not been determined whether the recent sinking is related to North Korea: 북한이 최근 침몰에 연루되었는지는 확인되지 않았다. In this sentence, you should not use "identify" as you are not trying to figure out how exactly North Korea was involved. You don't even know whether North Korea was involved or not. You can say you identify North Korea "as an instigator," but you can't say you "identify North Korea."

To confirm means to establish the accuracy of something or acknowledge something with definite assurance, (무엇이 사실임을 공식적으로) 확인하다.

• [Commodore Lee Ki-Sik] did confirm reports in the South Korean news media that another South Korean ship had fired warning shots around the time the [Cheonan] was damaged after detecting an unidentified object on its radar (New York Times, March 26, 2010): 이기식 준장은 천안함 폭발 무렵 레이더에 미상의 물체가 포착되어 다른 초계함이 경고사격을 했다는 한국 언론의 보도가 사실임을 확인하였다.
  

In this sentence, the Commodore is confirming that the news reports are accurate, so you should say "confirm," not "identify."