2010-07-16 16:56

SEOUL, South Korea - The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) military renewed calls to conduct its own investigation into the March sinking of a South Korean warship during rare talks with the US-led UN Command, the first since the deadly incident.

An international team of investigators concluded in May that a the DPRK's submarine fired a torpedo that sank the 1,200-ton Cheonan, killing 46 South Korean sailors in what Seoul called the worst naval attack on the South since the 1950-53 Korean War.

The US and South Korea called the sinking a violation of the armistice that ended the fighting in 1953. Pyongyang denies any responsibility for the sinking of the ship.

On Thursday, colonel-level officers from the DPRK and the UN Command met for 90 minutes at the border village of Panmunjom inside the Demilitarized Zone, the UN Command said.

The DPRK military officers stressed that Pyongyang inspectors should be permitted to go to the site of the sinking to verify those results, the DPRK state media said in a dispatch late Thursday.

"Field investigation by an inspection group should precede under any circumstances to ensure the successful opening of the general-level talks," the official Korean Central News Agency said from Pyongyang.

Seoul has so far rejected the request. The UN Command, which oversees the armistice, conducted a separate investigation into whether the sinking violated the truce but the findings have not been disclosed.

The two sides agreed to hold second colonel-level talks in Panmunjom around July 20, KCNA said.