DPRK Blasts Japan for Linking It to Sunken Ship

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, December 27, 2001

DPRK Blasts Japan for Linking It to Sunken Ship

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) denounced Japan on Wednesday for suspecting that an unidentified ship which sank Saturday in the East China Sea following a shoot-out with Japanese patrol boats was a vessel from DPRK.

Linking the incident to DPRK is a ''trite charge and provocation'' by Japan, the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said, referring to the incident for the first time.

''Patrol boats of Japan indiscriminately machine-gunned an unidentified ship in the East China Sea, sinking it...This crime...is nothing but brutal piracy and unpardonable terrorism of modern brand that could be committed only by samurais of Japan in defiance of international laws,'' KCNA said.

''The Japanese reactionaries are spreading a sheer rumor that the unidentified ship might be a 'spy ship from North Korea' describing their piracy as a 'measure for self-defense.'

''This proves that their loudmouthed case of the 'unidentified ship' is another trite charge and a grave provocation, products of the anti-DPRK policy of the Japanese reactionaries,'' it said.

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