North Korea Accuses South of Faking Warship Sinking

A South Korean patrol boat fires during a drill off the western coast town of Taean, South Korea, Thursday, May 27, 2010. (Photo credit: Kim Jae-hwan / AP)

By Kelly Olsen and Sangwon Yoon

May 28, 2010

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea’s most powerful state organ said Friday that South Korea faked the sinking of one of its own warships and warned that the Korean peninsula was edging ever closer to war.

Pyongyang has made similar statements through state media since a multinational probe said last week that a torpedo fired by a North Korean submarine downed the vessel, killing 46 sailors in the worst attack on the South Korean military since the Korean War.

This time, though, the comments were delivered at an extremely rare press conference in the North Korean capital presided over by a uniformed official with the secretive country’s National Defense Commission, which is headed by leader Kim Jong Il. …

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — May 28, 2009

South Korean marines at an anti-aircraft gun position.
(Photo credit: Byun Yeong-Wool / AFP — Getty Images)

Tense Stand-Off With North Korea

One year ago today I reported that South Korean and U.S. troops raised their alert to the highest level since 2006 after North Korea renounced its truce with the allied forces and threatened to strike any ships trying to intercept its vessels. The move was a sign of heightened tensions on the peninsula following the North’s underground nuclear test and its firing of a series of short-range missiles earlier in the week.