Four North Koreans Sail to Japan for Defection: Kyodo

Four suspected North Korean defectors said Saturday that they left a China-North Korean border area about six days ago, Kyodo News Service reported. They sailed to the port of Fukaura in Aomori Prefecture, 575 kms northest of Tokyo, in an open boat early Saturday, Kyodo said.

The four people _ three men and a woman apparently in their 20s to 60s _ seem to be members of a family, investigators said. The police have placed the people under protective custody and are questioning them, after taking the boat to a local police station for inspection, said officials of the Aomori prefectural police and the Japan Coast Guard.

Speaking in Korean, the four told investigators they are from North Korea, heightening the likelihood they are defectors from the country, Kyodo quoted Japanese officials saying.

They also said they left home due to poverty, and showed a bottle containing what they said was poison, the investigators added.

''I heard we have protected people who appear to be North Koreans on suspicion of violating the immigration control and refugee recognition law,'' Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was in Takashima, Shiga Prefecture, for political campaigning, told reporters, according to Kyodo.

''I believe immigration authorities are handling the matter appropriately. We have to hear the situation thoroughly,'' he added.

The Aomori prefectural police are expected to hand over the four to the Immigration Bureau on suspicion of violating the law. The Justice Ministry and Foreign Ministry are expected to discuss what steps to take.

The boat arrived at Fukaura port in the town of Fukaura sometime between 6:30 a.m. and 7 a.m. Saturday with the four aboard, a town official said. Fukaura is in southwestern Aomori facing the Sea of Japan.

It is highly unusual for defectors from North Korea to come to a coastal area of Japan, Public Safety Commission officials said. ''We sometimes find a body from North Korea washed up on the beach. But I have never heard of North Koreans leaving the country as 'boat people,''' one of the officials said.

In many cases, North Korean defectors first try to get to China. The four are reportedly asking for political asylum.

The local police said the boat, made of wood and measuring around 7 to 8 meters long, is equipped with an engine and was also carrying fuel and food, but no weapons.

The boat was found by a local resident who set out for fishing early Saturday, the town official said.

The four did not appear to be in a debilitated state, with one of the men tanned and wearing a sweater and slightly stained pants. They asked for directions to Niigata Prefecture when found.

North Korean vessels are barred from entering Japan as the result of the Japanese government's economic embargo against Pyongyang following the first nuclear test the North conducted last October.

According to the Japan Coast Guard, the last time a North Korean boat arrived in Japan in a similar case was in January 1987, when a vessel with 11 North Koreans including a doctor entered Fukui port asking for defection to South Korea.

North Korea asked Japan to send the eleven back, but Tokyo transported them to Taiwan after which they immediately defected to South Korea.