Seoul and Pyongyang continue sparring over the cause of the sinking of ROKS Cheonan, and are now disagreeing about mini-subs, torpedoes, gas turbines, and brochures.

North Korea’s National Defense Commission in its first ever press conference for the international media Friday challenged the findings of a multinational investigation into the sinking of the South Korean Navy corvette Cheonan and accused the South of “fabricating” charges. South Korea’s Defense Ministry and other government agencies immediately presented evidence to rebut North Korea’s claims.

The Chosun recounts an exchange about North Korean sales brochures for torpedoes.

The North also denied ever passing out an arms catalogue that investigators presented as evidence. “We have never distributed such catalogues,” the North Korean commission said at the press conference. “What country in the world would pass out blueprints of the torpedoes it exports?”

But Moon Byung-ok, a spokesman for the investigation team, said that is exactly what the North did. A source said South Korean intelligence obtained the catalogue a few years ago from a country with diplomatic relations with North Korea. The source said North Korean trade companies tasked with earning hard currency from arms sales made up these catalogue for sales promotion, and they include blueprints of the CHT-02D torpedo that was used to attack the Cheonan.

The Hankyoreh adds: “The Defense Ministry has not released the brochure, however, stating that it is ‘classified military information.’”

A new element in the investigation, according to the Chosun, is the Cheonan’s gas turbines, and how they were incapacitated.

It just keeps getting better and better.

Filed under: Iran, Korea, Maritime, Military Tagged: cheonan, dprk, gas turbines, north korea, rok, sango, submarines, torpedoes