NK ready to provide torpedo parts

North Korea said Tuesday it was ready to provide torpedo samples to back up its denial of responsibility for the alleged sinking of the South Korean warship Cheonan in March.

Pyongyang's National Defense Commission said aluminium alloy fragments salvaged by South Korea from the site of the sinking in March "prove that the torpedo was not from the North."

North Korean torpedoes are "made of a steel alloy material," not the aluminium alloy used in other countries, it added.

"(North Korea) is still willing to directly hand the steel alloy sample of (the) torpedo" to the US and South Korea, the official Korean Central News Agency quoted the commission as saying.

The South Korean Ministry of National Defense made no immediate comment on the North's fresh claims.

A Seoul-led multinational probe concluded in a final report in September that a submarine-launched North Korean torpedo sank the corvette.

Pyongyang has rejected the result, demanding the right to send a high-level team to Seoul to inspect the evidence, including the torpedo part.

AFP