Japan lodges protest with North Korea after boat crew threatened to fire at its coastguard
- Crew members on a vessel believed to be North Korean pointed a rifle at a coastguard patrol boat, Japan says
- The incident took place in fertile fishing grounds in the Sea of Japan, as the country threatens to crack down on foreign ships entering the area illegally
The Japanese government has lodged a stern protest with North Korea through the Japanese Embassy in Beijing following the incident, chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga said at a regular press conference.
The incident took place near an area known as Yamatotai within Japan’s exclusive economic zone which provides fertile fishing grounds for squid and other types of fish, according to the officials.
The Japan Coast Guard has been strengthening its crackdown on illegal fishing by North Korean ships in the area.
“We will respond resolutely in cooperation with the Japan Coast Guard to [foreign ships illegally] entering Japan’s EEZ,” fisheries minister Taku Eto said at a press conference.
According to the officials, the Japan Coast Guard received a request to dispatch a boat on the morning of August 23 from a Fisheries Agency ship patrolling in the area, which said a high-speed vessel of unknown nationality was approaching.
The coastguard found a vessel and what appeared to be a cargo ship with the North Korean national flag some 378km off the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture, the officials said. The two vessels subsequently left the area.
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One of them was a green high-speed vessel hoisting what appeared to be a North Korean navy flag and it came as close as 30 metres to the coastguard boat at one point, the officials said.
Three crew members in camouflage clothes were aboard the high-speed vessel with one pointing a rifle at the coastguard boat and another filming the encounter. No shots were fired and the vessel left the area, the officials said.
