N. Koreans defiant on probe into ship row
Source: Agencies |
July 16, 2010, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
NORTH Korea's military renewed calls for its own investigation into the March sinking of a South Korean warship as it met yesterday with the American-led United Nations Command for the first time since the incident raised tensions on the Korean peninsula.
An international investigation in May concluded that a North Korean submarine fired a torpedo that sank the 1,200-ton Cheonan near the tense Korean sea border, killing 46 South Korean sailors.
At the talks, North Korea's officers stressed that its inspectors should be permitted to go to the site of the sinking to verify those results.
South Korea has so far firmly rejected North Korea's request.
"Field investigation by an inspection group ... should precede under any circumstances to ensure the successful opening of the general-level talks," North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency said in a dispatch.
Colonel-level officers gathered yesterday at the Korean border village of Panmunjom for about 90 minutes and discussed the hosting of higher-level talks to discuss the sinking, the UN Command said in a statement. The two sides agreed to hold the second colonel-level meeting in Panmunjom around July 20, KCNA said.
Yesterday's talks came a week after the UN Security Council approved a statement that condemned the sinking but stopped short of directly blaming North Korea.
South Korea and the US have called the sinking a violation of the armistice agreement that ended the Korean War in 1953, while the North flatly denies it was responsible and has warned any punishment would trigger war.
The UN Command, which oversees the armistice, separately investigated whether the sinking violated the truce, though the findings have not been disclosed.
An international investigation in May concluded that a North Korean submarine fired a torpedo that sank the 1,200-ton Cheonan near the tense Korean sea border, killing 46 South Korean sailors.
At the talks, North Korea's officers stressed that its inspectors should be permitted to go to the site of the sinking to verify those results.
South Korea has so far firmly rejected North Korea's request.
"Field investigation by an inspection group ... should precede under any circumstances to ensure the successful opening of the general-level talks," North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency said in a dispatch.
Colonel-level officers gathered yesterday at the Korean border village of Panmunjom for about 90 minutes and discussed the hosting of higher-level talks to discuss the sinking, the UN Command said in a statement. The two sides agreed to hold the second colonel-level meeting in Panmunjom around July 20, KCNA said.
Yesterday's talks came a week after the UN Security Council approved a statement that condemned the sinking but stopped short of directly blaming North Korea.
South Korea and the US have called the sinking a violation of the armistice agreement that ended the Korean War in 1953, while the North flatly denies it was responsible and has warned any punishment would trigger war.
The UN Command, which oversees the armistice, separately investigated whether the sinking violated the truce, though the findings have not been disclosed.
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