OSAKA -- The Japan Coast Guard, which began its survey of the wreckage of a suspected North Korean spy vessel off Amami Oshima, Kagoshima Prefecture, this week, may discover that the sunken ship is more Japanese than foreign.
"It's very likely that some equipment on board, including radar and navigation equipment, or even the ship itself, is of Japanese origin," said Makoto Kurosaka, a professor at Osaka University of Economics and an expert on North Korean activities in Japan.
Over the past years, academic experts and politicians have warned that Japanese companies and individuals are supplying North Korea with everything from used fishing boats to global positioning systems and radar equipment.