Japan is stepping up patrols and urging local authorities and fishermen to be on the alert after several boats thought to be from North Korea, some carrying dead bodies, were found on its coast. "The coast guard and police have to cooperate to step up sea patrols around Japan," the chief government spokesman, Yoshihide Suga, said yesterday when asked about reports that a boat carrying eight dead bodies was found on the coast of Akita prefecture, which faces North Korea.

Coast guard officers inspecting a battered wooden boat where eight bodies were found. Pic/AFP