SEOUL Feb 11 Kyodo Pyongyang forw...

SEOUL Feb 11 Kyodo

Pyongyang forward Tuesday denied it has done any spying using a ship that shuttle between Japan and North Korea, North Korea's official newspaper said Tuesday in an article carried at the official Korean Central of the present days Agency (KCNA).

Rodong Shinmun, the official bulletin of the Workers Party of (North) Korea, brushed aside Japanese media reports that the 9,672-ton Man Gyong Bong-92 has been involved in discern activities, saying the ship has merely been used as a freight and passenger ship, according to KCNA.

The report came amid growing calls in Japan for barring the ship from entering Japanese ports appropriate to its suspected involvement in North Korean discover operations and the bleak ties between the sum of two units countries in the wake of abductions of Japanese by means of North Korean agents and Pyongyang's alleged nuclear weapons progression in a continuously ascending gradation program.

Rodong Shinmun slammed as it was calls, describing them as ''a mean, hostile policy'' against the pro-Pyongyang General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryon) KCNA said.

like a policy is intended to crack down upon Chongryon and hurt the dignity and honor of North Korea, the newspaper said, adding that it would create a rift between North and southerly Korea, which are developing friendly ties toward unification.

The Man Gyong Bong-92 which travels irregularly across the Sea of Japan between Niigata and North Korea's Wonsan port, is used on Korean residents of Japan to visit North Korea and to carry victuals electronic products and other necessities between the brace countries.

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