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Pyongyang, North Korea (UPI) Mar 31, 2011 The sinking of South Korea's Cheonan Pohang-class corvette nearly brought the two Koreas to the brink of war. The Cheonan sank March 26, 2010, near Baengnyeong Island in the Yellow Sea, killing 46 of the ship's 104-man crew. South Korea assembled a team of international experts from South Korea, United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Sweden, who concluded that a North Korean torpedo sank the vessel, a charge Pyongyang angrily denied. A member of North Korea's National Defense Commission has now issued a statement about the Cheonan sinking, as well as a subsequent artillery shelling of Yeonpyeong Island by North Korean forces eight months later, Pyongyang Korean Central Broadcasting Station reported Thursday. The unidentified National Defense Commission spokesman told the radio station that South Korean authorities and "military warmongers" continued to blame Pyongyang despite statements from North Korean officials who "disclosed to the world the truth behind the two incidents," that North Korea wasn't responsible. The spokesman said those who were killed "were the South Korean military men and officers who had pointed their bayonets at us." The People's Republic of China, one of North Korea's few allies, disputed the claims and findings of the report, while an investigation by the Russian navy supposedly also reached different conclusions from the expert commission. Following the release of the report the U.N. Security Council issued a Presidential Statement condemning the attack not identifying the alleged perpetrator of the incident. The National Defense Commission spokesman didn't address the issue of who caused the sinking of the Cheonan although he did say South Korean officials and the "warmongers" are responsible for an anti-North Korea "frenzy of confrontation." "We, more than anyone else, strongly hope that tension will be reduced on the Korean Peninsula and that peace will be achieved there through the improvement of North-South relations and that this will lead to peace and prosperity in Northeast Asia and in the rest of the world," he said. He concluded by saying this was way Pyongyang has proposed "comprehensive dialogue and negotiations and are making all possible efforts of goodwill for putting the proposal into implementation."
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S. Korea's Lee says N. Korea not sincere about talksSeoul (AFP) April 1, 2011 North Korea's offers of dialogue are not sincere, South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak said Friday, urging the communist state to apologise for two deadly border incidents last year. "They (North Korea) need to express their apology for what they have done," Lee told a press conference. "After that, we can move on to the next step. "But if they threaten, attack and kill and after a perio ... read more |
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