Portion of the sunken South Korean naval ship Cheonan is salvaged off Baengnyeong Island, South Korea. An explosion from a N.Korean torpedo left 46 sailors dead.
A part of the sunken South Korean naval vessel Cheonan is lifted by a giant crane off Baengnyeong island.

South Korean Navy's Ship Salvage Unit members on rubber boats return from search for survivors from the sunken South Korean navy ship near South Korea's Baengnyeong Island.
South Korean artillery soldiers take positions during an exercise against possible North Korean attacks, in Paju, north of Seoul, South Korea, near the DMZ between the two Koreas. South Korea resumed propaganda broadcasts into North Korea in response to a deadly torpedo attack that sank a South Korean warship, officials said on Tuesday, amid a report that North Korea's leader ordered troops to be ready for combat.
South Korean K1 tanks conduct an exercise to prepare for a possible surprise attack by North Korea, near the demilitarised zone separating the two Koreas in Yeoncheon, South Korea.
South Korean soldiers patrol along the military fence near the DMZ separating South Korea from North Korea in Yanggu. South Korean President Lee Myung Bak said North Korea would pay the price for sinking a South Korean naval ship and that the South would invoke its right to defend itself if Pyongyang waged aggression again.

SEOUL - NORTH Korea has flatly rejected evidence showing it torpedoed a South Korean warship with the loss of 46 lives, saying it does not own a midget submarine allegedly used for the March attack.

The North's powerful National Defence Commission (NDC), chaired by leader Kim Jong Il, held a rare press conference on Friday and denied Pyongyang's involvement, according to official North Korean media.

Major General Pak Rim Su, director of the policy department of the NDC, said the North does not have a 130-tonne 'Salmon-class' submarine, which the South says torpedoed its 1,200-ton corvette, the Cheonan, in the Yellow Sea. 'We don't have anything like a 130-tonne Salmon-class submersible,' Gen Pak was quoted by Pyongyang's Chungang TV as telling reporters. A multinational investigation led by Seoul concluded earlier this month that the March 26 sinking was caused by a torpedo attack from the North. South Korean investigators said a Salmon-class midget submarine had intruded into South Korean waters via international waters.

But Gen Pak said: 'It does not make any sense militarily that a 130-tonne submersible carrying a heavy 1.7-tonne torpedo travelled through the open sea into the South, sank the ship and returned home.' He also rebutted Seoul's allegation that salvaged fragments of the torpedo matched design specifications that appeared on brochures the North allegedly sent to an unidentified potential buyer of North Korean torpedoes.

'Who in the the world would hand over torpedo designs while selling torpedoes?' he said. Senior Colonel Ri Son Gwon dismissed as a 'fabrication' a serial number hand-written on a torpedo fragment reading '1 bun' or number one. South Korea said the serial number handwritten in Korean was strong evidence of Pyongyang's involvement in the sinking.

'When we put serial numbers on weapons, we engrave them with machines,' Col Ri said. 'We use 'bun' only for football or basketball players,' he said. Col Ri said the blame for the incident rested with the 'commander-in-chief of the puppet armed forces and military bosses'. Gen Pak said the Seoul-led multinational investigation team was not in a position to conduct an objective probe, attacking Seoul for rejecting Pyongyang's demand that it will dispatch its own investigation team.

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