HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------- Wednesday, 26 December, 2001, 11:55 GMT
N Korea condemns boat
sinking
The Japanese say their boats were fired
on
North Korea has finally commented on a mystery ship that
sank after a confrontation with Japanese coast guard vessels, calling the
incident "brutal piracy and unpardonable terrorism".
The statement implicitly rejected reports that the vessel which sank on Saturday was a North Korean spy or smuggling ship.
North Korea's denunciation came shortly after Japanese media reported that the country's military had intercepted radio messages between North Korea and the mystery ship. A patrol plane had located the vessel on Friday after a US intelligence tip-off, according to the Sankei newspaper and other Japanese media. A Japanese defence official declined to comment on the reports, but said there was reason to believe the ship was from North Korea, as it was almost identical to one that made an incursion in 1999.
A presidential spokesman, Hideichi Okada, said that Japan would have to discuss the matter with China because the ship sank near Chinese territorial waters, in what Beijing calls its exclusive economic zone. Rocket launchers So far two of the 15 crew members of the mystery boat have been recovered. Both had items with labels in Korean. According to the report in Sankei, the intercepted radio messages suggest the vessel may have been on a drug smuggling mission.
At first it was believed to have been sunk by Japanese fire, but Japan on Monday raised the possibility that the crew had scuttled the ship. Japanese officials say pictures released on Monday show the crew of the foreign boat using shoulder-held rocket launchers. The Japan Times Online said the coast guard believes they are probably RPG-7s, Soviet-era weapons known to be in North Korea's arsenal. These rockets are not very stable in windy conditions and missed their targets when fired from the ship, the report said. First attack The 100-tonne ship had a unique design which was detected through infrared surveillance devices, Japanese authorities were quoted as saying. Officials suspect the boat was designed to carry special equipment on the deck, possibly including landing boats. BBC correspondents say this is the first time in almost half a century that the Japanese coast guard has directly attacked a foreign ship in waters claimed by Japan. The boat was outside territorial waters, but within the 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone, where Japan claims the right to protect its fishing and mineral resources. ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9WB2D Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================ |
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