A vessel that may have been the suspected North Korean spy ship that sank after a gunbattle with Japan Coast Guard boats in December had previous contact with another mystery ship off Shanghai, government sources said Wednesday.
The contact was confirmed via radio intercept records provided by the Defense Agency and reconnaissance satellite images provided by the United States.
The ship that sank was earlier believed to have received fuel at a Chinese port after leaving North Korea. Given the latest data, however, the Defense Agency now suspects it took on fuel and supplies from another ship at sea.