North Korea has postponed¹ talks scheduled with the US-led United Nations Command about the sinking of a South Korean warship² in March.

朝鲜推迟了原定与美国领导的联合国司令部就韩国战舰沉没一事所举行的会谈。

Pyongyang cited administrative³ reasons for the delay, UN officials said.

The sinking of the Cheonan killed 46 people and sharply raised tension between the North and South Korea.

The meeting was due to take place on Tuesday in the truce⁴（停战，休战） village of Panmunjom. Its aim was to pave the way for future higher-level discussions.

The UN Command - which oversees⁵ the armistice⁶（停战，休战） that ended the Korean War - said the North had not proposed a new time for the talks.

Chilled ties

The Cheonan went down on 26 March. International investigators⁷ say it was sunk by a North Korean torpedo⁸（鱼雷，水雷） .

Pyongyang denies responsibility for the incident, which happened near the disputed inter-Korean maritime⁹ border.

Following the sinking, North Korea suspended all contact with its southern neighbour, in response to Seoul's trade suspension.

A statement from the UN Security Council, released on Friday, praised South Korean "restraint（抑制，克制） " over the incident.

But it did not explicitly¹⁰（明确地，明白地） condemn¹¹ North Korea - in a move correspondents say was a means of securing support for the statement.