A vice president of North Korea's parliament says his country was in no way involved in the sinking of South Korea’s "Cheonan" naval vessel.

In an event in Pyongyang on Monday to mark the May 18th, 1980 Pro-Democracy Movement, the Supreme People's Assembly Vice President Yang Hyong-sop said South Korea is attempting to link the naval incident to the North and is escalating inter-Korean confrontation.

Pyongyang officially denied involvement in the incident in a media report last month, calling Seoul’s claim of North Korean involvement in the sinking a fabrication.

The assembly leader also blamed Seoul for the suspension of South Korean tours to the North's Mount Geumgang resort.

He said anyone who provokes the Pyongyang regime will be brutally punished.