North Korea is calling the sinking of the “Cheonan” naval vessel a fiction created by the South Korean government.

According to the North’s official Korean Central News Agency, North Korea’s Committee for Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland said Wednesday that South Korea has intentionally fabricated the “Cheonan” incident to hurt inter-Korean relations.

The North Korean committee said in a statement that the South Korean government has issued the fabrication in order to win the June 2nd local elections.

But according to North Korean escapee groups, the North’s Workers’ Party has acknowledged in internal lectures that the North Korean military is behind the sinking of the South Korean naval vessel.