South Korea rejected North Korea’s request for a joint investigation into the sinking of a South Korean warship blamed on the communist regime as the United Nations Security Council mulls punitive action.
“It is our position that we will focus on Security Council negotiations,” South Korea’s foreign ministry spokesman Kim Young Sun said today in Seoul. He was responding to a question on whether the government will consider the North’s request to the UN yesterday. The attack is a “clear violation of the armistice” that ended the 1950-53 Korean War, Kim said.
North Korea has intensified its denial of having a role in the March 26 incident, which claimed the lives of 46 South Korean sailors. North Korea’s Deputy UN Ambassador Pak Tok Hun told reporters on June 24 members of his country were “just victims.”
An international team ruled on May 20 that a North Korean torpedo sank the warship. Almost one in four South Koreans said they don’t trust the probe’s findings, according to a poll commissioned by the Hankook Ilbo newspaper on May 24.
Russia has yet to make an announcement on its own investigation into the sinking, while China refrained from blaming Kim’s regime. China and Russia both have veto power on the Security Council.
South Korea remains technically at war with North Korea since the armistice, signed between the UN Command and the North, backed by China.
The U.S. has stood behind South Korea’s version of the incident, with President Barack Obama telling Group of 20 leaders on June 27 that North Korea must be held to account for its “belligerent” behavior.
“It is our position that we will focus on Security Council negotiations,” South Korea’s foreign ministry spokesman Kim Young Sun said today in Seoul. He was responding to a question on whether the government will consider the North’s request to the UN yesterday. The attack is a “clear violation of the armistice” that ended the 1950-53 Korean War, Kim said.
North Korea has intensified its denial of having a role in the March 26 incident, which claimed the lives of 46 South Korean sailors. North Korea’s Deputy UN Ambassador Pak Tok Hun told reporters on June 24 members of his country were “just victims.”
An international team ruled on May 20 that a North Korean torpedo sank the warship. Almost one in four South Koreans said they don’t trust the probe’s findings, according to a poll commissioned by the Hankook Ilbo newspaper on May 24.
Russia has yet to make an announcement on its own investigation into the sinking, while China refrained from blaming Kim’s regime. China and Russia both have veto power on the Security Council.
South Korea remains technically at war with North Korea since the armistice, signed between the UN Command and the North, backed by China.
The U.S. has stood behind South Korea’s version of the incident, with President Barack Obama telling Group of 20 leaders on June 27 that North Korea must be held to account for its “belligerent” behavior.