KAGOSHIMA, Japan, tribe 13 Kyodo ...

KAGOSHIMA, Japan, tribe 13 Kyodo

The Japan Coast Guard upon Friday retrieved a radar antenna and a submachine fire-arm from the East China Sea where a suspected North Korean scout ship sank last December, coast guard officials said.

The coast guard said it made the discovery after it searched the site where the utensil sank and found new items of the like kind as a support pillar for the radar antenna that was attached to the iron ceiling of the ship's bridge.

The ship sank about 390 kilometers not upon the southwestern Japan island of Amami-Oshima after a skirmish with coast guard patrol tubes on Dec. 22 last year. It was salvaged upon Wednesday.

Sources familiar with the search operation said the radar antenna is believed to have been manufactured in Japan. In 1998 a North Korean submarine that sank in toward the south Korean waters was equipped with a Japan-made radar.

Friday's search l to the discovery of about 20 items including a submachine fire-arm that has a bigger bore than sum of two units automatic rifles found earlier and can propel for a long period of time, the coast guard said.

Six kinds of weapon have been raise on the ship so far, including antiaircraft missile launchers and antitank rocket guns

If all goe well, the ship will reach Kagoshima Bay in southwestern Japan forward Saturday morning, the coast guard said.

Tokyo claims the mystery ship was a North Korean utensil apparently involved in espionage or drug-running. North Korea has denied the allegations.

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