N.Korea 'obviously' behind sinking

By Li Jing

South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan said Wednesday it was "obvious" North Korea had fired a torpedo that sank warship the Cheonan in March.

Asked by reporters whether the North had sunk the ship, Yu replied, "I think it's obvious."

Seoul has "enough evidence" to bring the issue to the UN Security Council, he added.

The comments by Yu came a day before a multinational investigation team was set to announce its findings on the disaster.

The Seoul-based Yonhap News Agency, citing unnamed military officials, said Wednesday that investigators had collected a sizeable piece presumed to be part of the axle of a torpedo, with a serial number written in a North Korean font.

The discovery, if confirmed, would be the latest and strongest piece of evidence pointing at Pyongyang.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak told Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama on Wednesday that Seoul had indisputable evidence of who was responsible.

Lee, according to his spokesman, told Hatoyama by phone that "clear and definitive material evidence will be presented that no country in the world and no one can refute."

However, Pyongyang's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea released a statement Wednesday accusing Seoul of taking advantage of the disaster to push north-south relations to a catastrophe.

Meanwhile, the Seoul-based Dong-a Ilbo newspaper reported that a draft of the investigation results was released at a meeting Wednesday to more than 30 countries and parties to the Six-Party Talks.