[USFK Forums] Japan officials raid North Korea freighter [Reuters]

[C. Y. Lee]

Uploaded by C. Y. Lee on Wednesday, March 8, 2006

Japan officials raid North Korean freighter

Tue Mar 7, 1:27 AM ET

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese police, coast guard and immigration officials on Tuesday raided a North Korean freighter, which media reports said had been involved in an illegal shipment of ingredients for sarin nerve gas to North Korea a decade ago.

The raid comes at a time some ruling party politicians and activists have called for economic sanctions against Pyongyang for refusing to resolve a dispute over Japanese nationals abducted by North Korean agents decades ago.

Police declined to confirm that they were raiding the 2,705-tonne freighter, but coast guard officials said they were conducting what they called "regular inspections" of the ship in Tokyo Bay.

Media reports said the vessel had carried ingredients for sarin nerve gas to North Korea from the Japanese cities of Osaka and Kobe 10 years ago.

Several Transport Ministry officials were expected to inspect the vessel later on Tuesday, a ministry official said.

Japan and North Korea held talks in Beijing last month on normalizing diplomatic ties, but they failed to make progress.

Japan and North Korea are locked in a bitter dispute over North Korea's kidnapping of Japanese in the 1970s and 1980s.

North Korea has admitted abducting 13 people, eight of whom it says are dead. Pyongyang has said the abductees issue is settled, but Tokyo wants more information about the eight and another three it says were also kidnapped.

Japan has said it would not normalize ties with North Korea unless the abduction issue was resolved.



(END)