North Korean ship suspected of smuggling leaves Japan

NIIGATA, Japan -- A suspected North Korean smuggling ship set sail from Japan on Tuesday after being detained for safety violations amid a global crackdown on alleged drugs and weapons trafficking by the communist state.

The ferry, suspected of running arms, illicit drugs and money in the past, had been scheduled to leave Niigata in northern Japan with 200 passengers Tuesday morning. But Transportation Ministry officials announced the night before that it wasn't safe to sail.

By late Tuesday afternoon, however, the crew had sufficiently remedied four safety problems to embark across the Sea of Japan for the ship's home port of Wonsan, North Korea, ministry official Kazuo Ogawa said.

Students in black and white school uniforms lined the deck's railing, clapping hands, singing songs and waving giant red and blue North Korean flags as the Mangyongbong-92 eased away from the pier just after sunset.

In contrast to the boat's hotly contested arrival, when raucous anti-North Korea protesters swarmed the waterfront, no demonstrators were seen as it set sail.

North Korean officials had denounced the decision by Japanese authorities to hold the Mangyongbong-92 over five safety code violations.

A spokesman for the General Association of Korean Residents of Japan, So Chung On, said the decision smacked of politics and was an "intentional burden put on us by the Japanese authorities."

The Mangyongbong was not informed of the safety violations -- including a lack of proper emergency-exit signs -- until late Monday.

The Transport Ministry informed the ship's captain Tuesday it would be allowed to leave if four conditions were met, including increasing the number of fire extinguishers to compensate for the lack of a kitchen fire damper and assigning a person to direct passengers to safety in the event of an emergency.

Ogawa said the ship was cleared for departure after the captain promised to fix them in Wonsan. He added that a fifth violation -- a faulty divider for oil and bilge water -- was repaired in Niigata.

By mid-afternoon, about 35 inspectors in helmets and jumpsuits had boarded the ferry to certify the conditions had been met, and deboarded satisfied.

Meanwhile, Japanese authorities showed no signs of letting up their tight surveillance, with officials inspecting individual cans of beer before allowing them to be brought on board.

The ferry glided into port Monday after a seven-month hiatus.

The visit has tested already icy relations between Japan and North Korea before their diplomats meet later this week at six-nation talks in Beijing on North Korea's suspected nuclear weapons programs.

The tightened inspections also reflect efforts by the United States, Japan, Australia and other allies to curtail North Korea's alleged smuggling, which they say underwrites the regime's nuclear ambitions.