South Korea has accused North Korea of torpedoing one of its ships, heightening tension in the region.
South Korea said it would take ‘firm’ measures against its neighbour, which responded that it was ready for war if Seoul or its allies imposed sanctions.
A report by investigators, including experts from the US, Australia, Britain and Sweden, concluded that a North Korean submarine had fired the torpedo which sank the Cheonan corvette in March, killing 46 sailors.
‘There is no other plausible explanation,’ their report said.
International condemnation was immediate, with the exception of China.
A senior South Korean government official said previously that the attack appeared to have been in revenge for a firefight near the disputed North-South border late last year in which the North's navy was humiliated.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called the contents of the South Korean investigation deeply troubling.
Both the US and Britain gave their backing to the findings, with the White House calling it an act of aggression that was another sign of the North's unacceptable behaviour.
China simply termed the sinking 'unfortunate'. Vice Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai declined to comment on the South Korean report and urged stability on the peninsula.
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak will hold an emergency meeting of his National Security Council tomorrow.
His government has already made clear it has no plans for a retaliatory strike of its own but will be pressing the international community to take action, probably more sanctions, against the North.
‘We will be taking firm, responsive measures against the North, and through international cooperation, we have to make the North admit its wrongdoing and come back as a responsible member of the international community,’ Mr Lee was quoted by his office as telling Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
The report, announced in a nationally televised news conference, said intelligence had shown that North Korean submarines were likely in operation near the scene of the sinking, with similar vessels of other neighbouring countries all inside their territorial waters.
‘The evidence points overwhelmingly to the conclusion that the torpedo was fired by a North Korean submarine,’ it said.
