N Korea offers torpedo sample for probe

North Korea says it is ready to provide torpedo samples as proof to show it had no involvement in sinking a South Korean warship back in March.

Pyongyang says aluminum alloy fragments recovered by South Korea prove that no North Korean torpedo was involved in the maritime accident.

“Aluminum alloy fragments prove themselves that the torpedo was not from the north,” an official statement carried by the state news agency KCNA said on Tuesday

The North says its torpedoes are made of steel alloy material and has described Seoul’s investigation as the most hideous conspiratorial farce in history.

A May investigation report on the sinking of the warship in the Yellow Sea near the disputed maritime border with North Korea concluded that the sunken ship was hit by a torpedo.

Seoul says Pyongyang may be behind the shipwreck. North Korea has repeatedly denied any involvement.

The South took the case to the UN Security Council back in June. The international body condemned the deadly attack, but refused to directly blame the North for the tragedy that left 46 sailors dead in late March.

However, the Security Council members have appealed to “all parties to refrain from any action that would aggravate the security situation in the region.”

Tension in the Korean peninsula has been high since North Korea’s missile test in April 2009. International efforts to resolve the standoff have so far made little progress.

In a separate development, South Korea’s Defense Minister Kim Tae-young on Tuesday accused North Korea of trying to develop small nuclear weapons.

Pyongyang insists its nuclear program is a deterrent against US forces in the region and accuses US President Barack Obama of plotting with regional allies to topple the country’s communist government.