S. Korea may demand N. Korean explanation of Cheonan sinking in future: official

South Korea and North Korea may discuss the deadly and still mysterious sinking of a South Korean warship in 2010 when and if their relations improve enough and military tensions are removed, a senior South Korean official said Tuesday.

The official, however, flatly dismissed reports that Seoul may have already demanded a North Korean apology for the deadly sinking of the Cheonan in a recent inter-Korean military dialogue.

"The sinking of warship Cheonan was not considered an agenda item for the general-level talks in the first place. No mention of the Cheonan was ever made, either," the official from the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae told reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"However, we may be able to discuss the issue on an appropriate occasion once the South and North Korean relationship improves and military trust is established," the official added.

The photo, taken June 14, 2018, shows military officials from South Korea and North Korea holding high-level talks at Tongilgak, a facility located on the North Korean side of Panmunjeom inside the Demilitarized Zone that divides the two Koreas. (Yonhap)

The military talks between the two Koreas were held Thursday, two days after North Korean leader agreed to completely denuclearize his country in a historic summit with US President Donald Trump in Singapore.

The military talks were the first of their kind in over a decade. The two Koreas technically remain at war as the 1950-53 Korean War ended only with an armistice, not a peace treaty. The last military dialogue between the divided Koreas was held in December 2007.

The 1,200-ton patrol ship sank off the country's western coast, near the western sea border with North Korea known as the Northern Limit Line, on March 26, 2010, leaving 46 young South Korean sailors dead.

An international investigation has concluded the ship sank after a torpedo attack from a North Korean submarine.

Many South Koreans, especially conservatives, continue to demand a formal apology from Pyongyang, but there also exist many others who believe the ship may have sank due to other reasons. A rather radical but still widespread controversy even suggests the former South Korean administration may have staged the sinking simply to put blame on the communist state. (Yonhap)