By Guest Editor John
In Yokohama we docked close to a Japanese Coast Guard museum which turned out to contain only a single exhibit: the raised wreck of a North Korean spy ship.
On December 22, 2001, a Japanese Coast Guard patrol boat ordered a suspicious-looking fishing (?) boat sailing near Kyushu to stop. Instead the boat accelerated to more than 30 knots and tried to escape. (Fishing boats can’t go this fast.) It responded to a warning shot across its bow with automatic weapons fire and rocket-propelled grenades. Three Coast Guard sailors were wounded. The Coast Guard returned fire. A huge explosion, apparently deliberately triggered on the boat, caused it to sink rapidly.
In 2002 the Japanese raised the wreck and found it to be a craftily constructed spy ship. Powered by 4 separate 1100-horsepower engines, it carried a smaller boat which could land on a beach, many automatic weapons, scuba gear, and multiple North Korean-made items, including a Kim Il Sung badge. The Japanese believe the vessel was supplying arms and drugs to Japanese criminals.
This irrefutable evidence of North Korean perfidy is now prominently displayed at the Yokohama harbor.
JohnandJanet'sJourney 