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A spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea gave the following answer to a question put by KCNA on October 12 over the recent incident of sinking our fishing vessel by Japan in the waters of East Sea of Korea.

On October 7, a patrol ship of the Japanese Fisheries Agency committed a gangster act of sinking our fishing vessel which was on a normal navigation in the waters of East Sea of Korea.

It is said that our crew were rescued by the Japanese side, but their safety was subjected to a serious threat.

The Japanese authorities and the media are misleading the public opinion as if the incident was mainly caused by our fishing vessel which had crashed into their patrol ship when it was making a rapid U-turn without responding to its check.

Japan is impatiently trying to justify its deliberate act, and it even acts like a guilty party filing the suit first. Yet, they cannot evade from their responsibility for this incident of sinking our vessel and threatening even the safety of its crew.

We have already sent advance warnings that an interruption, check or other physical act against the movements of our fishing vessels might trigger an unexpected clash. Since Japan has committed a provocative act in defiance of these warnings, it is now placed in a position not to say anything even though we take required practical measures in reaction to the former's act.

We strongly demand that the Japanese government compensate for the infliction of the material damage by sinking our vessel and that it work out steps to prevent a recurrence of such incident.

If such an incident occurs again, Japan will face an undesirable consequence.