US likely to push for new sanctions against North Korea and over the sinking of a Seoul warship, as Pyongyang rejects the claims as fake.
North Korea Friday repeated denials that it torpedoed a South Korean warship, saying Seoul's allegations brought the two nations close to war, amid international outrage at the attack.
It was Pyongyang's second denial in two days, after a South Korean-led investigation concluded Thursday that a North Korean submarine had torpedoed the corvette near the disputed border on March 26 with the loss of 46 lives.
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South Korean emergency meeting
South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak called an emergency meeting of his National Security Council Friday to discuss ways to punish the North.
Seoul's close ally the United States warned the North of consequences as Western nations and Japan condemned the attack.
But China, whose backing would be crucial in any attempt to impose new United Nations sanctions, has merely called for restraint by all parties.
With an international probe concluding North Korea torpedoed the Cheonan on March 26, Washington must throw full support behind Seoul, yet stop short of actions that could trigger a new war on the Korean peninsula, they warned.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is expected to weigh responses to Kim Jong-Il's reclusive Stalinist regime during her week-long tour of South Korea, China and Japan, where she arrives on Friday.
China 'a wild card'
"Going to the UN Security Council and pushing for a tougher resolution is a must, just to demonstrate international solidarity in the wake of the conclusions of the investigation," Center for Strategic and International Studies analyst Nicholas Szechenyi told AFP.
It remains unclear whether North Korea's closest ally China would go along with another round of sanctions.
"China is the wild card," Szechenyi said.
The multinational investigation team said Thursday in a report it had overwhelming evidence that a North Korean torpedo split the Cheonan in two.
Members said torpedo sections salvaged from the seabed matched those used by the North, and displayed them at a nationally televised press conference.
In an unusually swift response, the North said Thursday the report was based on "sheer fabrication" and threatened "all-out war" in response to any attempt to punish it.
