It has been six months since an unidentified armed vessel, presumably a spy ship from North Korea, sank in the East China Sea off Amami Island, Kagoshima Prefecture, following a gun battle with Japan Coast Guard patrol boats. An operation to salvage the ship finally began on Tuesday.
The delay was unavoidable because raising the ship was also a diplomatic issue that involves a question of Chinese sovereignty. This is because the sinking occurred in China's exclusive economic zone, just outside Japan's. Now that Beijing has agreed to the salvaging of the vessel, however, it is hoped that the operation will yield sufficient evidence to unravel the mysterious incident.
Diplomatic negotiations with China have not been easy. Initially, Beijing opposed a Japanese move to lift the sunken ship but later reversed its position, apparently to avoid a further deterioration in bilateral relations in a year marking the 30th anniversary of the normalization of Sino-Japanese ties. The international campaign against terrorism may also have helped.