N.Korea Claims Cheonan

North Korea on Thursday anticipated its implication in the sinking of the South Korean Navy corvette Cheonan, claiming the probe was "a planned, intentional provocation to destroy inter-Korean relations."

A statement by the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland, said the South Korean "puppet regime" was committing "an outrageous act in the verge of death to tide over the crisis by deceiving public opinion to pull through the June 2 local elections," according to the official Korean Central News Agency.

"As the shipwreck occurred, the puppet regime saw a golden opportunity to drive inter-Korean relations to catastrophe. From the start [North Korean] involvement was treated as a fait accompli, and it has been talking about responses and retaliation ever since. Today it finally raised a cry of war."

The statement warned the "traitors" that the North will respond to any joint action by South Korea and the U.S. over the sinking with "merciless, firm punishment."