The step taken by the south Korean authorities is an open negation to the historic June 15 North-South Joint Declaration and the October 4 declaration, the programme for implementing it, which were adopted according to the unanimous desire of the Korean nation, the article said, and went on:

The statement of the Policy Department of the DPRK National Defence Commission termed the "May 24 step" the one for confrontation as it was fabricated under the pretext of the forged Cheonan warship sinking case and a product of politically-motivated plots which should be thrown into the dumping ground of history. The statement said that if the south Korean authorities have any ground with which they can prove the DPRK's responsibility for the sinking case, they should respond to its demand to jointly look into the case in the eyes of the whole nation and the world.

Many foreign experts were skeptical about "evidence" offered by south Korea and refuted them, but its authorities are working hard to shift the blame for the case onto the DPRK while insisting on their "assertions."

The "May 24 step" should be lifted for the peace on the Korean peninsula and in Northeast Asia and the rest of the world and a fair investigation be made into the case to find an indisputable conclusion.