The government said Friday it will start a monthlong effort early next week to salvage a suspected North Korean spy ship that sank in the East China Sea in December after a gunbattle with the Japan Coast Guard.
The estimated 5.88 billion yen operation to salvage the 30-meter, 180-ton ship is expected to take at least one month, weather permitting.
Japanese intelligence sources suspect the sunken ship is from North Korea, given the fact that similar vessels have been used in the past to allegedly smuggle stimulant drugs and deliver and extract agents operating in Japan.