North Korea has denied sinking a South Korean warship¹ near their disputed maritime² border last month.

朝鲜政府否认上月发生在争议海域的韩国沉船事故是其所为。

offshore³ crane is being used to salvage⁴ parts of the sunken ship" width="226" height="282" src="/upimg/100418/4_064829_1.jpg" />
A huge offshore crane is being used to salvage parts of the sunken ship

"As South Korea can't identify the cause of the accident, they are using the media to attribute it to us," said a statement carried by state media.

It is the first official comment by Pyongyang on the incident, in which more than 40 sailors were killed.

South Korean media has has pinned the blame on the North, but official statements have been more circumspect⁵（慎重的，细心的） .

There has been speculation⁶（推测，思索） in the South that the naval⁷ vessel⁸ was hit by a North Korean torpedo⁹（鱼雷，水雷） .

South Korean officials have also previously¹⁰ suggested the ship could have struck an old mine left over from the 1950-1953 Korean War.

North Korea accused the South of "a foolish attempt" to link the incident to Pyongyang, said an official statement published by the Korean Central News Agency.

Salvage operation

Fifty-eight crew survived, but 46 sailors died in the incident on 26 March.

Salvage（打捞，海上救助） workers found 36 bodies in the shattered（破碎的） hull¹¹（船体，外壳） of the Cheonan, a 1,200-tonne navy gunboat.

Two more bodies were recovered earlier, and another eight sailors remain unaccounted for（下落不明的） .

The bow section of the vessel is due to be raised in about a week's time.

The Cheonan sank close to the sea border which marks North and South Korean territorial¹² waters.

The North does not accept the maritime border, known as the Northern Limit Line, which was drawn¹³ unilaterally（单方面地） by the US-led United Nations Command at the end of the Korean War.

The sea border has been the scene of deadly clashes between the navies of the two Koreas in the past.