Pyongyang threatens war over torpedo row

And Pyongyang warned that any attempt at retaliating for the sinking would be answered with "all-out war".

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak vowed "stern action" for the attack after a multinational investigation issued its long-awaited results yesterday, concluding the North fired a torpedo that sank the Cheonan navy ship near the countries' tense sea border.

"If the (South Korean) enemies try to deal any retaliation or

punishment, or if they try sanctions or a strike on us .... we will answer to this with all-out war," Col. Pak In Ho of North Korea's navy said.

An international civilian-military investigation team said evidence overwhelmingly proved a North Korean submarine fired a homing torpedo that caused a massive underwater blast that tore the Cheonan apart. Fifty-eight sailors were rescued from the Yellow Sea, but 46 died in the South's worst military disaster since the Korean War.

Since the 1950-53 war on the Korean peninsula ended in a truce rather than a peace treaty, the Koreas remain locked in a state of war and divided by the world's most heavily armed border.

The truce prevents Seoul from waging a unilateral military attack.

However, South Korea and the US, which has 28,500 troops on the peninsula, could hold joint military exercises in a show of force, said Daniel Pinkston, a Seoul-based analyst for the International Crisis Group think tank.

South Korean and US officials also said they were considering a variety of options in response to the warship's sinking, ranging from UN Security Council action to additional US penalties.

The exchange of war rhetoric raised tensions, but the isolated communist regime – already under international pressure to cease its nuclear weapons programme – often warns of dire consequences against South Korea or Washington for any punitive steps against it. Its large but decrepit military would be no match for US and Korean forces.