A promotional brochure showing the same type of torpedo that sank a South Korean war ship in March bears the official country name of North Korea, another piece of evidence that points to Pyongyang as the culprit in the naval attack, an official said in Seoul Tuesday.
The brochure was presented to the 15-nation U.N. Security Council last week by South Korean investigators in a briefing, according to the official.
South Korea's 1,200-ton patrol ship, Cheonan, was sunk on March 26, killing 46 sailors. A team of multinational investigators concluded last month that a North Korean submarine attacked it with a heavy torpedo, presenting various parts of the weapon retrieved from the site of the incident that were identical to design specifications shown in the brochure.
"In the catalog advertising the North Korean torpedo, a sentence reads, 'guaranteed by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK),'" the official said on the condition of anonymity. The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) is North Korea's official name.
"Given that, it is certain that the catalog was produced by the North Korean government," the official said.
North Korea is believed to have provided the guarantee for its state-run company in exporting the torpedo, the official said.
South Korea obtained the torpedo brochure sent by a North Korean state-run trading company to a potential weapons buyer.