31.  The ship ignored a radioed order to stop and tried to sail out of Japanese waters, the agency said, but the patrol boat chased and caught it.

32.  The spy ships then raced out of Japanese waters.

33.  The two ships, with false Japanese markings, were first spotted in Japanese waters early Tuesday.

34.  Tokyo-Pyongyang relations have also deteriorated with the infiltration of a suspected North Korean spy boat into Japanese waters in December.

35.  Two ships bearing false names sped toward North Korea earlier this week after being chased out of Japanese waters.

36.  He said it was the same vessel that entered Japanese waters during an eight-day period last month.

37.  It remained anchored in Japanese waters despite continued warnings by the maritime safety agency for it to leave, the officials said.

38.  A North Korea freighter vessel caught fire Tuesday in Japanese waters off Miyazaki prefecture on the southern island of Kyushu, a spokesman for the Japanese coastguard said.

39.  But the mutineers were allegedly trapped in the fish storage unit by survivors shortly before the vessel reached Japanese waters, he said.

40.  The ministry said the fishing boat, which was operating near the disputed Kuril islands, was seized in Japanese waters.