DPRK blames US for Cheonan sinking

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea on Wednesday accused the United States of plotting the Cheonan sinking and using the incident to step up hostility against Pyongyang.

On March 26, 2010, the Republic of Korea's Cheonan warship sank off the country's west coast, killing 46 people. Seoul said the corvette was sunk by torpedoes fired by the DPRK, a charge repeatedly denied by Pyongyang.

"The US is the arch-criminal that engineered the case by instigating the South Korean puppet forces," said a statement issued by the Panmunjom mission of the Korean People's Army and carried by the official news agency KCNA on Wednesday, one day ahead of the fifth anniversary of the sinking of the corvette.