DPRK calls for lifting of May 24 sanctions

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Tuesday reiterated its call for South Korea to lift the May 24 sanctions imposed by the Lee Myung-bak administration after the sinking of South Korea's Cheonan warship in March 2010.

"The warship sinking case and the 'May 24 step' taken by them in its wake were a vivid manifestation of the anti-reunification acts as they were deliberately cooked up to nullify the historic June 15 joint declaration and the October 4 declaration," the official KCNA news agency said.

The Policy Department of the National Defense Commission clarified Pyongyang's stand on the sanctions in a statement carried by the KCNA, urging Seoul to "immediately lift the ill-famed 'step'" because it is "based on the fictitious story about the north's involvement in the sinking."

The statement stressed that Pyongyang will not apologize or express regret over the Cheonan sinking to make the lifting of the sanctions happen, saying that demanding the north apologize "will be regarded as an intolerable mockery of the DPRK and the declaration of standoff with it."

Pyongyang insisted that the May 24 sanctions must be lifted first by Seoul to facilitate improvement of relations between the two Koreas.

The statement also suggested an immediate reinvestigation into the incident to clarify the truth behind it.

On March 26, 2010, South Korea's Cheonan warship sank off the country's west coast, killing 46 people. Seoul has claimed that the corvette was sunk by a DPRK torpedo attack, an accusation repeatedly denied by Pyongyang.

In the aftermath, the South Korean government imposed on the north the May 24 sanctions, which halt inter-Korean trade and aid projects and ban South Koreans' visits to the north. Endi