N Korea denies sinking South's warship

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=127060§ionid=351020405


Pyongyang has rejected a report by an international committee that suggests a North Korean torpedo sank a South Korean warship near a disputed sea border.

The North Korean National Defense Commission calls the report a "smear campaign," insisting in a statement that its navy did not torpedo the South Korean ship.

"We had already warned the South Korean group of traitors not to make reckless remarks concerning the sinking of warship Cheonan of the puppet navy," the statement said, according to the Korean Central News Agency.

The North's reaction came after Seoul threatened Pyongyang with "resolute counter-measures".

The categorical denial comes after a five-country committee, comprised of American, Australian, Swedish, British and South Korean members, formally announced on Thursday that the Cheonan with 46 sailors onboard was hit by a torpedo fired by a North Korean submarine.

The probe said parts of the torpedo recovered from the scene matched a North Korean made weapon.

Pyongyang rejected the claim as pure "fabrication", South Korea's Yonhap agency reported.

Meanwhile, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reacted to the report saying that it was "deeply troubling".

The Cheonan went down near the disputed inter-Korean maritime border, raising tension between the two nations, which technically remain at war.