This is going to be a circus...
1,900 To Be Involved In Monitoring Mangyongbong Call
TOKYO (Kyodo)--The government has decided to deploy 1,900 personnel, including riot police, ship inspectors and coast guard officers, when the North Korean ferry Mangyongbong-92 docks at Niigata port next Monday, government officials said Thursday.
The large number of personnel is almost the same amount that was organized in June when the passenger-cargo ship was due to make a port call, which was canceled.
The ferry, which departs from Wonsan, North Korea, is the only direct link for pro-Pyongyang Korean residents in Japan to visit North Korea.
Seven ministries and agencies will carefully monitor the vessel because they suspect it has been involved in smuggling banned devices and illegal drugs, unauthorized remittances of cash to North Korea and espionage activities.
The police will mobilize about 1,500 officers, mainly riot police officers, to monitor possible protest rallies by rightist groups and any clashes between the protesters and Korean residents planning to visit North Korea, the officials said.
They will also be on the watch for any domestic terrorist attacks against the port call following last month's gunshot at the Niigata branch of the pro-Pyongyang General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryon) and an explosive placed at a nearby Korean credit union.
The Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry will dispatch more than 20 ship inspectors to conduct a special ''port state control'' inspection for the first time in 10 years on the Mangyongbong to check its safety equipment such as life boats.
The inspectors may suspend the ship's departure if it does not meet international safety standards. But Chongryon officials have said the ship has been upgraded to meet the requirements.
The Japan Coast Guard will send 10 patrol boats as well as helicopters and 250 officers to the port. It plans to conduct a regular boarding inspection at the ship's arrival and departure.
The Finance Ministry will send 60 to 70 customs officials, X-rays and sniffer dogs and plans to examine cargo and luggage for the first time aboard the ship.
Forty-seven immigration officials will also be deployed, about five times the number for the Mangyongbong's last call in January, to check people boarding and leaving the ship around the clock.
The Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry will send two officials to join the customs authorities in checking for any illegal export of precision instruments for possible military use, and the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry will examine the sanitary conditions of the ship by sending five or six quarantine officials.
The Mangyongbong-92 is expected to enter Niigata port at 8 a.m. Monday, carrying about 40 people and 50 tons of cargo, and depart at 10 a.m. the following morning with about 200 passengers and some 100 tons of goods.
The ship plans to also call at Niigata port Sept. 4, 16 and 30.
2003.08.21
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