TOKYO (AP) -- Dozens of North Korean spies entered Japan last week while the country's military and coast guard were distracted by the incursion of two mystery ships, a newspaper reported Monday.
The spies, believed to be sabotage experts, have spread out to several states after entering from Japan's eastern Pacific, the nationally circulated Sankei newspaper reported, quoting sources it did not identify.Japanese officials said they were looking into a possible infiltration.
"The government has been investigating to confirm the report, but we have not obtained evidence," a government spokesman quoted Chief Cabinet Spokesman Hiromu Nonaka as saying Monday.
The mystery ships were first spotted last Tuesday in the Sea of Japan on the country's western side.
Their refusal to halt triggered a tense pursuit by Japanese coast guard and military ships, which fired warning shots -- the first since 1953. It also provoked Japan's Cabinet to approve sending in naval destroyers for their first such pursuit in the postwar era.
Spies from the North have also been flown in, slipping past immigration authorities by using fake passports, the right-leaning Sankei quoted its sources as saying.
The spies have all been trained in sabotaging railways, communications and bridges, the Sankei said.