http://www.portal.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2001/12/24/wjap24.xml&sSheet=/news/2001/12/24/ixworld.html

Japan sinks 'North Korea spying ship'
By Marcus Warren in Moscow
(Filed: 24/12/2001) 

JAPAN's armed forces sank their first ship since the
Second World War at the weekend, opening fire on a
mystery vessel believed to be a North Korean spy ship.

The Japanese Coast Guard yesterday recovered three
bodies from the East China Sea, apparently crew
members from the vessel with Korean letters on their
lifejackets.

A dozen patrol boats and 13 planes from the Coast Guard
and two Navy destroyers chased the ship, first seen in
Japan's waters on Friday. It stopped only after sustaining
a direct hit to its hull on Saturday.

After putting out a fire, its sailors set sail again. Even
when finally cornered, they opened fire on their pursuers,
wounding two Japanese coastguards, before their vessel
sank.

Japan's prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi, described the
ship's behaviour as "bizarre" and called for heightened
vigilance against intrusions by North Korean spy ships.

"It is regrettable to see such armed unidentified ships
prowling," Mr Koizumi said. "We need to consider what
can be done." 

The weekend's battle, north-west of the Japanese island
of Amami Oshima, was the first occasion in 48 years that
Japanese coastguards have attacked foreign ships
operating illegally in their national waters.

Japan's postwar constitution bans its military from taking
part in combat abroad unless Japan itself is under direct
threat or attack.

However, relations between the economic giant and the
communist pariah state have been tense for years.
Japanese planes and ships opened fire on a suspected
North Korean spy ship in 1999.

Officials said the ship sunk at the weekend was similar to
that vessel, which was rigged as a fishing boat but able to
move at high speed, and the crew members - reportedly
numbering 15 - appeared well trained in gunnery on the
high seas.

The 1999 engagement was the first involving Japan's
navy since Second World War. The previous year North
Korea fired a rocket it said was carrying a satellite over
Japanese territory, provoking anxiety about the scale of
its missile programme.

Home to the largest US military presence in Asia, Japan
has been in a state of high alert ever since the terrorist
attacks of September 11.