The controversial North Korean ferry Mangyongbong-92 will arrive Tuesday at Niigata port about two hours later than scheduled.
The ferry was originally scheduled to arrive at 7:30 a.m., the vessel's shipping agent said Monday.
The agent said it received notification of the new schedule from the crew of the cargo-passenger ship, which departed from North Korea's Wonsan port 5 p.m. Sunday with 219 passengers, 70 crew and about 2 tons of cargo.
The Mangyongbong-92 is scheduled to take with it some 30 tons of straw mats when it leaves Niigata on Wednesday morning.
The vessel brought the straw mats to Japan when it visited Niigata at the end of August, but the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry ordered the importer of the goods to return or incinerate them as importing them could infringe on the Domestic Animal Infectious Diseases Control Law.
On Sept. 17, when the ship last docked in Niigata, the Japan Coast Guard sent papers to prosecutors on the captain of the vessel for allegedly carrying too many passengers on the ferry's previous voyage.