KITAKYUSHU (Kyodo) The Japan Coast Guard arrested the president of a Japanese shipping firm Tuesday on suspicion of illegally exporting a used fishing vessel to South Korea last year that may have had a connection with North Korean agents.
Arrested was Yoji Kishimoto, 64, president of Matsushima Kaiun, based in the city of Shiogama, Miyagi Prefecture, coast guard officials said. In 2001, he was convicted of illegally selling another boat to South Korea that ended up in the North.
The latest boat, the 75.49-ton dragnet boat Yamato Maru No. 2, reportedly bears the same name and identification code as one of two North Korean spy ships that intruded into Japanese territorial waters in the Sea of Japan in 1999 and escaped pursuit from the coast guard and Self-Defense Forces, the officials said.