UN tells Koreas to exercise restraint

Following separate meetings with North and South Korean delegations, the UN Security Council has appealed to both parties to exercise restraint, Press TV reported.

Tension escalated after a South Korean naval ship, the Cheonan, sank near the disputed maritime border with North Korea, killing some 46 sailors of the crew of over 100 on board.

The South has said a North Korean submarine torpedoed and sank the corvette on March 26, but Pyongyang has denied the accusations.

After hearing separate briefings on the incident on Monday, held behind closed doors, the UN urged the rival parties to refrain from any act that could escalate tension in the region and asked them to maintain peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, AFP reported.

Earlier in the day, a South Korean envoy called on the UN Security Council to take action against North Korea after giving evidence linking Pyongyang to the sinking of the South's warship.

"We hope that... the Security Council will take timely and appropriate measures against the provocation of North Korea," said Yoon Duk-yong, a physics and material science expert at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology.

But North Korea's deputy UN ambassador, Pak Tok-hun, dismissed the South Korean charges as "incorrect" and cast his country as the victim.