N Korea threatens 'countermeasures' over sunken ship

Japanese officials say they plan to raise the suspected spy boat which sank at the weekend in 100m (330 feet) of water

TOKYO, Japan -- Twenty four hours after breaking its silence over the weekend sinking by Japanese patrol boats of an unidentified ship, North Korea has threatened countermeasures without actually laying claim to the vessel.

North Korea accused Japan on Thursday of mounting a "smear campaign" over the sinking of the unidentified ship and said it would take unspecified countermeasures to match Japanese moves.

"The Japanese authorities are groundlessly linking the DPRK with the incident in a bid to mislead public opinion. This is an unpardonable smear campaign against the dignified DPRK," said a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman.

DPRK is the acronym for North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

"The DPRK will take relevant countermeasures depending on the future attitude of Japan toward the incident," the official Korea Central News Agency quoted the spokesman as saying.

On Saturday, the Japanese Coast Guard fired on and sank a 100-tonne ship which it said had intruded into Japan's 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone and ignored orders to stop.

There is strong suspicion in Japan that the boat was a North Korean vessel sent to spy or deliver illegal drugs -- however the government in Tokyo has taken no official line on the ship's origins.

Silence broken

North Korea finally broke its silence over the weekend sinking on Wednesday, accusing Japan of "brutal piracy" but again avoiding any claim to the vessel.

Three images made with an infrared video camera show a boat firing a weapon, which the Japan Coast Guard says is a rocket, at its patrol boats in the East China Sea

"This crime committed in other country's territorial waters 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," the official Korea Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

"Nevertheless, the Japanese reactionaries are spreading a sheer rumor that the unidentified ship might be a 'spy ship from North Korea'," KCNA said.

The ship sank after a high-seas pursuit and exchange of fire with Japanese patrol boats at the weekend and was reportedly in contact with North Korean agencies.

Japanese Defense Agency official Ichiro Imaizumi told The Associated Press he could not comment on the reports of the mysterious ship encounter on the East China Sea.

However, he confirmed that Japan believes the sunken vessel was from the North as it was almost identical to a North Korean ship that made an incursion in Japanese waters in 1999.

'Six-hour saga'

The Japanese Coast Guard said its vessels fired warning shots after the ship ignored orders to stop.

Six hours later the boat sank in the East China Sea.

Two bodies have been recovered so far, while the remaining 13 believed to have been on board at the time are still missing.

Three Japanese sailors were injured during the exchange of the fire.