Suspected N Korean boat enters Japan port: Kyodo

Tokyo, June 2: A boat of unknown origin has entered a port in northern Japan, and local police and the coastguard are questioning its crew, suspecting that it may be North Korean, Kyodo news agency said today.

Fuji Television said those aboard three men and a woman were telling authorities that they came from North Korea, and reported they might be defectors.

A local official said a small black wooden boat, resembling a fishing boat, had entered Fukaura port facing the Sea of Japan in Aomori prefecture, 570 km (350 miles) north of Tokyo.

Japan has barred entry to North Korean ships since Pyongyang conducted its first nuclear test last October.

North Korea abducted Japanese nationals in the 1970s and 1980s, and those who were repatriated in 2002 have said they were kidnapped by agents and taken to the North on speed boats that left from the Japanese coast on the Sea of Japan.

Reuters>