North Korea appears to have had nothing to do with the sinking of a South Korean navy ship near the disputed border that divides the peninsula, Yonhap news agency quoted a government official as saying on Saturday.
The ship went down on Friday night and there was initial speculation it might have been targeted by the North.
"Given the investigations by government ministries so far, it is the government's judgement that the incident was not caused by North Korea, although the reason for the accident has not been determined yet," a senior government official was quoted as saying.
