Suspicious Boat Sinks Off Japan

A fishing boat suspected of spying for North Korea sank off southwestern Japan late Saturday after trading machine-gun fire with Japanese coast guard vessels at the end of a six-hour chase, officials said.

Two coast guard sailors suffered minor wounds in the firefight, and an estimated 15 crewmen from the fishing boat were dumped into rough seas when the vessel went down 240 miles off the Japanese island of Amami Oshima.

The coast guard found two bodies today believed to be crew members of the boat, officials said.

Survivors had clung to life preservers in the cold water for nearly two hours as rescue efforts were hampered by the rough conditions and concerns that the castaways might resist.

Coast guard spokeswoman Miki Sakamoto said patrol boats were continuing the search today.

Coast guard and defense officials said the unidentified fishing boat might have been spying for North Korea, and some officials suggested that the boat’s crew members may have killed themselves to avoid capture.

Authorities initially said Japanese gunfire had sunk the fishing boat. But Shinzo Abe, deputy Cabinet secretary to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, said it sank quickly, and he speculated that the boat’s crew might have scuttled the vessel.

Twenty-seven Japanese ships and 14 aircraft had chased the boat, which carried Chinese markings and was first spotted Friday about 90 miles off Amami Oshima inside Japan’s economic exclusion zone.

Japan has exclusive fishing rights in the area, which extends 200 maritime miles beyond its 12-mile territorial waters.

The boat “closely resembled” vessels believed by Japanese authorities to have conducted surveillance activities for North Korea in the past, a coast guard officer said.