Japan protests to North Korea over sea collision, vows firm steps

This Monday, Oct. 7, 2019, photo released by Japan’s Fisheries Agency, shows a fishing boat that collided with a Japanese patrol vessel off the northwestern coast of the Noto Peninsula, Ishikawa prefecture, Japan. Japanese authorities said they rescued all of about 60 North Korean fishermen whose boat sank after the collision in an area crowded with poachers. (Fisheries Agency via AP)

TOKYO — Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Tokyo has lodged a protest with Pyongyang over a collision between a North Korean fishing boat that illegally entered Japan’s exclusive economic zone and a Japanese patrol boat, pledging to step up measures against foreign poachers.

Japanese authorities on Monday rescued about 60 North Korean fishermen who were thrown to the sea after their ship collided with a Japanese Fisheries Agency inspection vessel and sank in Japan’s exclusive economic zone off the country’s northern coast.

Abe said Tuesday that Japanese authorities helped the fishermen onto another North Korean ship and let them go due to a lack of evidence showing illegal fishing.

The area has been crowded with North Korean poachers. Experts say the increase is due to Pyongyang’s campaign to boost fish harvests. /kga

RELATED STORY

20 N. Korean crewmen thrown to sea in boat collision off Japan coast