Workers aboard the 15,850-ton Yoshida Go No. 60 were securing the raised boat, which sank last year after a firefight with Japanese patrol craft, inside the salvage vessel's dock.

"We are nearly finished with the salvage work. We expect to wrap it up by later in the afternoon," a Japan Coast Guard spokesman said.

Early Wednesday divers attached cables and hooks to the submerged vessel, which was lying on the seabed some 90 meters (297 feet) under water inside China's 200-nautical-mile Exclusive Economic Zone.

The vessel came to the ocean surface shortly after noon (0300 GMT) and was placed inside the dock filled with sea water an hour later, the spokesman said.

The salvage ship will take two to three days to return to Kagoshima port, located in the southern tip of the Kyushu region 950 kilometers (594 miles) southwest of Tokyo, the spokesman said.

Officials will search the raised vessel after the salvage ship returns to the port, the spokesman added.

Television footage of the salvage work showed the rusting hull with stern doors partially open.

The ship was fitted with four propeller screws and two rudders, the coast guard spokesman said, but declined to describe the ship further.

Coast guard officials were expected to hold a press conference later Wednesday.

The government has said it would not be able to identify the ship until after a Japan-North Korea summit meeting scheduled for September 17, prompting media speculation that Tokyo was delaying the work to avoid clouding the historic summit.

The salvage work, which started at the end of June, had initially been expected to take a month and finish in late July.

A streak of bad weather, with high waves and typhoons, delayed the operation, however.

The boat, apparently camouflaged as a fishing vessel and carrying a crew of about 15 people, sank on December 22 with the presumed loss of all on board after a firefight with Japanese coast guard patrol vessels.

It has not yet been determined exactly why the vessel went under but Japanese media have suggested that the crew deliberately scuttled the craft, which they say was involved in drug-smuggling or spying.

Japan has said it needed to raise the ship to find out what country it came from. North Korea has denied any involvement in the ship's operations.

The Japanese coast guard retrieved from the ship the bodies of Asian men and a tag on a lifejacket bearing Korean script.

It has also recovered two rocket launchers of the Russian-made RPG-7 type, one machine gun fixed to the deck and one automatic rifle resembling the Russian AK-47 model, in addition to other military-style weapons.

Nampa-AFP

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