North Korea admits that sailors die as warship sinks

A number of North Korean sailors were killed when a warship sank during "combat duties" last month, a state newspaper has reported in an unusual admission by the secretive state.

The North's ruling party newspaper Rodong Sinmun gave no figures for the number of dead. But photographs of gravestones in Saturday's website edition suggested about 15-20 may have died.

The paper showed solemn-faced leader Kim Jong-un laying flowers at a cemetery created for victims of the incident, who "met heroic deaths while performing their combat duties".

The report gave no details of how the sailors on a ship identified as "Submarine Chaser No233" had died.

After hearing of the incident, Kim ordered a search to retrieve all the bodies and gave detailed instructions on the construction of the cemetery and gravestones, the paper said.

South Korea's Chosun Ilbo newspaper said yesterday that two North Korean warships sank last month during an exercise off the eastern port of Wonsan, killing scores of sailors.