A wooden boat with eight dead bodies on board has washed up on the coast of Northern Japan, local Authorities said on Monday.
Local police in Akita prefecture said they found the unidentified boat in the city of Oga, 500 kilometres north of Tokyo, on Sunday, after a local resident called coast guard officials.
Local media reported that the ship was likely to have come from North Korea.
The incident came after a boat carrying eight men claiming to be from North Korea drifted to a nearby beach, on Thursday.
Local police took the men into protective custody on Friday for questioning and said they spoke the Korean language.
The men told police officials that they came from North Korea and that their boat got into trouble when they were trying to catch fish.
Earlier this month, the Japanese Coast Guard rescued three North Korean crew members from their capsised fishing vessel in the Sea of Japan and handed them over to another North Korean ship. (NAN)