North Korea has "strongly demanded" that Japan pay compensation for a fishing boat that sank when it collided with a Fisheries Agency patrol boat vessel last week, according to state media.
The collision, which occurred last Monday, was deliberate and "a gangster act" by Japan, which should take steps to prevent future incidents, a spokesman for the North Korean Foreign Ministry said in a statement run by the official Korean Central News Agency.
"We strongly demand that the Japanese government compensate for the infliction of the material damage by sinking our vessel," the unnamed spokesman said. "If such an incident occurs again, Japan will face an undesirable consequence."