The top Russian envoy in Seoul said Wednesday it will take two to three weeks for Russian investigators to reach a conclusion on what caused the sinking of a Republic of Korea warship, which is currently blamed on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Konstantin Vnukov, Russian ambassador to the ROK, said a team of Russian investigators who conducted a separate probe into the sinking are still analyzing data, according to Yonhap News Agency.
Russian experts began their investigation on May 31 to assess findings of the multinational probe that blamed an alleged DPRK torpedo attack for the sinking that killed 46 sailors.
Pyongyang has denied a role in the incident and claims the investigation results were fabricated.
The DPRK warned on Tuesday that its military will respond if the UN Security Council questions or condemns the country over the sinking.
The DPRK's UN Ambassador Sin Son-ho demanded an investigation team from the DPRK be permitted to go to the site to verify the result of an ROK probe "in an objective and scientific way," which the ROK has refused.
He said there is "a touch and go situation that a war may break out any time ... on the Korean Peninsula due to the reckless military maneuvers of the ROK."
Sin called the accusation against the DPRK "a farce concocted by the United States and the ROK in pursuit of their political purposes" and accused the ROK of fabricating the results.
(中国日报网英语点津 Helen 编辑)
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Lee Hannon is Chief Editor at China Daily with 15-years experience in print and broadcast journalism. Born in England, Lee has traveled extensively around the world as a journalist including four years as a senior editor in Los Angeles. He now lives in Beijing and is happy to move to China and join the China Daily team.