N Korea and UN begin ship talks
US-led UN Command and Pyongyang discuss the sinking in March of South Korean warship.
The North vehemently denies the allegations and has threatened a military response to any attempts to punish it.
‘Diplomatic victory’
Media reports said the North was likely at the higher-level talks to repeat its claim that the multinational probe was a fabrication.
The UN Command is also expected to present the results of the investigation and assert that the sinking near the tense Yellow Sea border was a serious breach of the 1953 armistice which ended the Korean War.
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Last week, the UN Security Council issued a statement which condemned the attack but did not blame North Korea – a move hailed by the North as a “great diplomatic victory”.
The statement had been watered down under pressure from China, Pyongyang’s key ally.
Leonid Petrov, a lecturer in Korean studies at the University of Sydney, said there were “plenty of points to discuss”.
“It’s not only Cheonan, denuclearisation, military exercises. I think the agenda is pretty full,” he told Al Jazeera.
Petrov said the meeting could pave the way for North Korea’s return to six-party nuclear talks.
“I believe that North Korea realises [this is] a good opportunity to discuss bilaterally with Americans [a] long list of points which they have been planning to talk about for years,” he said.
Naval exercises
Last week, North Korea said it was willing to return to the nuclear disarmament talks it abandoned 18 months ago, saying it will make “consistent efforts” for a peace treaty.
The disarmament talks involving North and South Korea, the US, Japan, Russia and China have been in limbo since December 2008.
The Pentagon, meanwhile, announced on Wednesday it would go ahead with joint naval exercises with South Korea aimed at sending a warning to the North, despite strong protests from China.
North Korea routinely denounces all drills between the South and its US ally as preparations for war.
On Saturday it threatened “strong physical retaliation” if the two countries persist in “demonstration of forces and sanctions” despite the UN statement.