North Korea has asked the United Nations Security Council to support its call for a new investigation into the sinking in March of a South Korean warship.
"We are of the view that the most reasonable way of settling this incident is that the north and south of Korea sit together to probe for the truth," North Korean UN ambassador Sin Son-ho said in a letter addressed to Mexican UN ambassador Claude Heller, current president of the council.
Western council members have dismissed the idea of conducting another investigation, saying a South Korean-led inquiry with international participation yielded a persuasive case against Pyongyang, which Seoul says sank the ship.
That inquiry concluded a North Korean torpedo sank the Cheonan corvette on March 26th, killing 46 South Korean sailors. Pyongyang has denied responsibility and said the results of the South Korean investigation were incorrect.
Mr Sin said the 15-member Security Council should "take measures that can lead the US and South Korea to receive the inspection group of the National Defence Commission as already proposed by the DPRK (North Korea), the victim, to help verify the 'investigation result' and find out the truth."
US state department spokesman PJ Crowley said another inquiry was not needed.
"We don't think another investigation is warranted at this point," he told reporters in Washington. "We don't see any ambiguity here and it's time for North Korea to take responsibility for its actions."
A separate South Korean letter to the council said that the sinking of the ship was a breech of the 1953 North-South armistice and should be discussed by the commission overseeing the Korean War truce.
The Security Council has been discussing sanctioning North Korea, but China, Pyongyang's only major ally, has been reluctant to allow any direct criticism that might provoke retaliation by its impoverished communist neighbour.
China, like Russia, the United States, Britain and France, can block any action by the panel.
Western council diplomats have said that a statement on the issue agreed on Saturday by the Group of Eight rich nations club, which includes Russia, was very close to language they have been considering in New York for a council resolution or statement on the Cheonan sinking.
In his letter, Mr Sin also asked the council to back the North's request for high-level military talks with the South.
Pyongyang said on Sunday it was ready for direct military talks with South Korea to discuss the Cheonan sinking but only if the armistice commission is not involved.
One senior Western diplomat described Mr Sin's letter as "more moderate and more measured" than communications the council usually receives from the North Korean mission. North Korea had previously threatened to turn Seoul into a "sea of fire".
Reuters