Japan searches for 'spy ship'

A Japan coast guard photo shows fragments flying when its patrol boat, Amami, is fired upon from a suspected North Korean spy ship

TOKYO, Japan -- Japan's Coast Guard have begun a sonar search for a suspected North Korean spy ship that sank following a fire-fight in the East China Sea more than two months ago.

All of the ship's 15 crew members are presumed dead after the December 22 clash with Japanese patrol vessels.

Japanese authorities have gathered evidence suggesting that the ship came from North Korea. But Tokyo has yet to prove who sent the ship or what it was doing off the Japanese coast when it ignored a Coast Guard order to stop for an inspection.

Hisako Nakabayashi, a spokeswoman for the Japan Coast Guard, said a sonar search of the area began Monday morning and was to continue through to Friday. She said the vessel was believed to be on the ocean floor, about 90 meters (300 feet) from the surface.

After determining the ship's location, a remote-controlled underwater TV camera will be used to take pictures of it, she added.

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Japanese government spokesman Yasuo Fukuda said last week that Tokyo had informed China of the plan to investigate the ship, which sank in Chinese economic waters, although he said no approval was needed.

Japan has said it would consider salvaging the ship, a move that could yield valuable information on how advanced North Korea is in the area of technical surveillance, but a final decision has yet to be made.

Whilst denying any knowledge of the boat, North Korea reacted angrily at the time of the sinking, accusing Japan of "brutal piracy" and threatening unspecified countermeasures".

A Japanese intelligence source told Reuters news agency recently that North Korea's military had been getting more involved in drug smuggling as a way to raise badly needed cash for the government of the impoverished nation.