Pyongyang, (Prensa Latina) US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton declared on Wednesday in South Korea her country's determination to impose new economic and financial sanctions against the Democratic People''s Republic of Korea (DPRK).

During an official visit to Seoul this week, the US official also insisted that the DPRK acknowledges guilt in the case of the sinking of the South Korean warship Cheonan.

Clinton's statements, coming after concluding a meeting with US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and their South Korean counterparts, raised the tension in the Korean peninsula.

According to reports, the Cheonan sank on the night of March 26 by an explosion.

Of 104 crew members, 58 were rescued and the rest were reported dead or missing.

South Korean authorities presented the results of an investigation on May 20, attributing the incident to an alleged torpedo attack by Pyongyang.

The DPRK refutes those accusations, and insists on sending experts to verify the facts, a request Seoul has denied several times.