The spokesman for the DPRK National Defence Commission solemnly declared the principled position of our army and people on the reckless steps the Lee Myung Bak regime of traitors is going to take against the DPRK after alleging that "Cheonan" was attacked by the north's torpedo.

The spokesman also said the NDC decided to send an inspection group to south Korea to verify at first hand the "evidence" advertised by the south Korean regime to link the vessel's sinking with the DPRK.

But the regime has persistently refused to allow the inspection group's on-the-spot verification, afraid that its allegation would be proved to be false.

From the very outset, we have felt no need to talk about the incident as it is an absurd ploy kicked off by the regime to hurt the DPRK.

Since the regime has refused to accept our recognized demand, however, we cannot but reveal the truth behind the incident.

1. "Story about torpedo attack by the north" is what the south Korean regime invented.

At around 9 pm on March 26, "Cheonan" went down, broken in two parts, from an unknown cause in the West Sea of Korea off Paekryong and Taechong islands.

On May 20, some 50 days after the tragedy, the south Korean regime made public a "report on the results of a joint investigation" alleging that it was hit by the north's torpedo.

But the allegation is a sheer fabrication cooked up by it in an effort to deliberately link the case with the DPRK from the day the ship's sinking occurred.

The fact is illustrated by the "pieces of evidence" produced by the "joint investigation team" under the manipulation of the regime.

Let's get down to, first of all, an "extremely small amount of powder" that it said was detected from the funnel and the broken edge of the vessel.

The "investigation team" said the detected powder was proved to be RDX, which is used in making torpedo, concluding that the vessel was sunken by the north's torpedo.

RDX is white crystalline, non-aqueous high explosive which is known to be used by many countries in munitions and other industrial sectors, with south Korea no exception.

It is unreasonable to correlate the use of such powder with the north's torpedo and it is also groundless to ascribe the tragedy to the torpedo.

It is hard to swallow that powder was detected from the hull of the sunken vessel and its funnel. The vessel had remained under the salt water, washed up by strong currents, for many days. Its survivals said they had no smell of powder when the vessel was being sunken. And fishermen testified that they saw no fish or seaweed floated dead by a strong explosion on the spot. Such facts are enough to excite public doubts.

The spot has often been used as a theater of target practices by the south Korean puppet navy and marine corps with such guns as K-9 and KH-179 howitzers.

A member of the "civilian-military joint investigation team" said that it may be possible to find out a sign of powder under the water as the spot is a fixed theatre of the gun firing, but if the vessel was broken into two by an explosion 6-9 meters deep under the water, not by a direct hit, it is nonsense to allege that a sign of powder was detected from the funnel or hull of the vessel.

He also said if the allegation is true, the undersurface of the vessel should have been thickly coated with powder.

The "investigation team", finding no word to answer to a question whether the detected powder was compared with that used by south Korea, categorically alleged it is the north's. As experts view, the analysis of "the powder amount as small as one ten billionth gramme is hardly authentic.

The "evidence", which can be invented only by those rabid in anti-north confrontation and plots, could not be used in the final investigation results for fear that it would be rejected by the public.

The same holds true for "another piece of evidence" offered by the "investigation team".

The south Korean regime had combed the area 500 meters around the spot to find out remnants since the incident occurred.

After many days, however, it suddenly announced that "alloy fragments" crucial for the probe into the incident were found out.

It said that the fragments were proved to be alloy of aluminium and magnesium, both used in making torpedo's outer cover, and that they are the same with the material of the north's practice torpedo the south side obtained seven years ago, evidencing the "north's torpedo attack".

Admittedly, aluminium and magnesium are used in diverse fields. They were apparently used in building the submerged vessel, too.

Strangely enough, the metal fragments were confirmed to be the "north's".

Many doubts have also arisen as regards the afterbody of the torpedo, allegedly found out in the water under the spot of the incident prior to the announcement of the "investigation results".

The regime, citing it as "another crucial piece of evidence", has asserted that the afterbody with five propellers, engine, control device and driving shaft left undamaged is the same in size, shape and composition with CHT-02D torpedo design in the north's pamphlet introducing its "weapons for export".

Does the assertion really sound reasonable?

Even the bow and stern of the vessel, as heavy as hundreds of tons, were tossed about by currents and six of its crew reported missing because their bodies have not yet been found out. Such being the case, it is unimaginable that the 1.5-meter-long afterbody of the torpedo remained in the same place for some 50 days and that a fishing boat pulled up with a fish net the afterbody scores of U.S. and south Korean warships equipped with up-to-date detection devices had failed to find out.

The south Korean regime has offered even photos in a bid to justify its assertion but they only reveal that it is a lie.

Besides, the assertion that the screw shaft and engine remained undamaged and unchanged in shape is also a laughing shock. Even U.S. and British members of the international investigation team, which had blindly backed the south Korean regime in its "investigation", were perplexed at the exhibit in a glass box.

It lacks logic to include detailed torpedo designs considered top-secret in pamphlets available in other countries. It is the view of experts that the vessel's broken edges by non-contact explosion cannot be the same in corrosion with the torpedo severely heated by self- explosion.

"No. 1" written in the rear part of the screw in the "writing style of the north" is what the south Korean regime has produced as the "clearest piece of evidence".

It is a matter of common sense to leave no clue in stealthy attack.

Even south Korean experts, with doubt that the north left such a clue, are of the view that the number of the screw that allegedly remained unerased under the water for many days was not carved by a machine but handwritten with a blue felt-tip pen apparently some time ago.

They also say the north's style of marking number in military equipment is quite different from that produced by the south side as "evidence".

The "evidence" is so poor that south Koreans ridicule it, saying, "The north is very kind to write the letters in the part unapt to rust," "Blue bus No. 1 on the street is what infiltrated the south from the north", "The letters are similar with those of my 8-year-old nephew. Then is my nephew also a spy?" and "Anyone who votes for No. 1 (the number of the Grand National Party in elections to local self-governing bodies) is a traitor".

The same is true for the north's submarine infiltration route offered by the south Korean regime as "another piece of evidence".

The "civilian-military joint investigation team" announced that the submarine left its base at night three days before the occurrence of the incident, approached "Cheonan" after making a channel detour in the open sea, attacked the vessel and went back through the same course.

Encountering the demand for a detailed explanation, however, it said it is difficult for any countries to track submarine's underwater movement so that the infiltration and returning course of the north's submarine could not be confirmed.

Asked how a small submarine with some 300kg torpedo could hit the 1 400t vessel at a stroke with a 1.7t torpedo in the West Sea where the underwater topography is so complicated and objects can hardly be recognized even within ten meters, the "investigation team" answered that it might be possible if the submarine underwent a training beforehand in similar water.

The spot of the incident is in the troubled water of the north and the south of Korea where the south side has allegedly maintained alert posture with many detecting and monitoring systems.

Furthermore, when the vessel met a mishap, the "Foal Eagle" joint military maneuvers were at their height with flotillas of various naval vessels and underwater and aerial reconnaissance means mobilized in anti-warship, anti-submarine, anti-air, sea lane blocking and other operations

Nevertheless, the investigation team", just visualizing the infiltration course of the "north's submarine", invented the "channel course".

Commenting on the "investigation results", south Korean press have said that they should have been worked out in an exact and certain way so that they could never be faulted by others but they were made with imagination in such a way as incriminating the north without grounds, only to amplify doubts. They have also said that it is not only "Cheonan" but public trust in the Lee Myung Bak regime that was sunken, that the incident has aroused more and more doubts and deepened mistrust and that if someone makes public a declaration of conscience in the future, the regime will surely face a miserable fate for its fabrication.

It is only too natural that progressive media of south Korea decided to form a committee to verify the "investigation results" made public by the south Korean regime.

As the facts show, the "crucial pieces of evidence" produced by the south Korean regime, a master of fabrication and concoction, are nothing but faked things from A to Z, inviting serious doubts. (to be continued)