N. Korea proposes inter-Korean probe into warship sinking

North Korea on Sunday repeated its demand for an inter-Korean probe into the sinking of a South Korean warship in 2010, which the South believes was the North's doing.

In March 2010, North Korea torpedoed the South Korean naval corvette Cheonan in the Yellow Sea, killing 46 sailors, according to South Korean authorities.

After an investigation assisted by international experts, the South announced the communist nation was responsible for the torpedo attack just south of their high-tension border in the Yellow Sea, which Pyongyang has flatly denied.

Two months after the incident, Seoul imposed a series of sanctions called the May 24th measure on Pyongyang, banning all inter-Korean exchanges except for humanitarian assistance. The North, however, says it has been wrongly accused.

On Sunday, the Policy Department of the North's National Defense Commission repeated its proposal to conduct a joint investigation, first made in July 2010.

"If there is a basis to believe that the sinking was our doing, (South Korea) should accept our demands to jointly inspect the incident in front of all our people and the world," the department said in a statement.

South Korea says the North's involvement in the attack is indisputable.   

"An international probe has already concluded North Korea was behind the attack," Seoul's unification ministry said at a regular briefing in March. "We express our regret for the North's repeated distortion of truth and criticism of our government." (Yonhap)