Boat carrying apparent N. Korean defectors

Boat carrying apparent N. Korean defectors

TOKYO, Japan - Photo taken from a Kyodo News helicopter shows a wooden boat (front) being towed by the Japan Coast Guard in the Sea of Japan to Kanazawa port, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Sept. 13, 2011. The coast guard found the boat carrying nine apparent defectors from North Korea -- six adults and three children -- earlier in the day in waters off Wajima in the prefecture. A man among them told the coast guard that they are relatives and that they left a North Korean port on Sept. 8 in the hope of going to South Korea.

Boat carrying apparent N. Korean defectors

Boat carrying apparent N. Korean defectors

TOKYO, Japan - Photo taken from a Kyodo News helicopter shows a wooden boat being towed by the Japan Coast Guard in the Sea of Japan to Kanazawa port, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Sept. 13, 2011. The coast guard found the boat carrying nine apparent defectors from North Korea -- six adults and three children -- earlier in the day in waters off Wajima in the prefecture. A man among them told the coast guard that they are relatives and they left a North Korean port on Sept. 8 in the hope of going to South Korea.

Boat carrying apparent N. Korean defectors

Boat carrying apparent N. Korean defectors

TOKYO, Japan - Photo taken from a Kyodo News helicopter shows a wooden boat being towed by the Japan Coast Guard in the Sea of Japan to Kanazawa port, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Sept. 13, 2011. The coast guard found the boat carrying nine apparent defectors from North Korea -- six adults and three children -- earlier in the day in waters off Wajima in the prefecture. A man among them told the coast guard that they are relatives and they left a North Korean port on Sept. 8 in the hope of going to South Korea. (Kyodo)

Boat carrying apparent N. Korean defectors

Boat carrying apparent N. Korean defectors

TOKYO, Japan - Photo taken from a Kyodo News helicopter shows a wooden boat (front) being towed by the Japan Coast Guard in the Sea of Japan to Kanazawa port, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Sept. 13, 2011. The coast guard found the boat carrying nine apparent defectors from North Korea -- six adults and three children -- earlier in the day in waters off Wajima in the prefecture. A man among them told the coast guard that they are relatives and that they left a North Korean port on Sept. 8 in the hope of going to South Korea. (Kyodo)