Two mysterious ships which sparked Japan's biggest military action since the Second World War on Tuesday apparently escaped to North Korea yesterday, after a day of drama on the high seas involving Japanese and Russian naval vessels and US satellite surveillance.
The regional powers seem in little doubt that the two vessels were spy ships disguised as Japanese fishing trawlers, and their rare co-operation illustrates nervousness in the north Pacific about the unpredictable communist regime in Pyongyang.
The political repercussions of the incident were immediately felt in Tokyo where, conveniently, the Japanese Prime Minister, Mr Keizo Obuchi, is currently trying to win parliamentary support to expand Japan's military role. At present it is limited to defensive action only.
The heightened atmosphere of suspicion about North Korea will help his case in a heated debate over allowing the military to inspect ships on the high seas to enforce UN sanctions, a move directed against North Korea.
The US could also benefit as Japan will be more prepared to accept a controversial US-proposed missile defence programme. The incident may also require Mr Obuchi to change the conciliatory tone he adopted towards Pyongyang during a visit to South Korea last weekend.
The intrusion of the two unidentified ships into its territorial waters on Tuesday was treated so seriously by Japan that Mr Obuchi personally authorised naval intervention when told they refused to obey radio commands. Japanese coastguard planes had spotted the 30-metre trawlers in the Sea of Japan which separates Japan and North Korea. The trawlers carried no fishing nets and bristled with antennae.
A coastal patrol vessel called in Maritime Self-Defence Force destroyers which fired warning shots when the trawlers failed to heave to. Warplanes also dropped bombs in the sea nearby. But the ships took off at 35 knots, double the speed of the fastest fishing boats, and disappeared across the horizon.
The Japanese Jiji news agency said last night that the two ships had entered North Korea's territorial waters, but this was not officially confirmed by the Japanese government. Some Japanese MPs accused the government of overreacting for political advantage, and South Korea, where such incursions are more common, played down the incident.
Russia, however, dispatched three patrol boats to help Japan track the ships. Russian border service officials said the two trawlers were seen about 300 km from Nakhodka in the Sea of Japan, heading in the direction of Vladivostok, near the North Korean coast, leading to speculation they might be Russian smugglers. The vessels parted ways and did not respond to radio contact.
Japan regards North Korea as the main regional threat, especially since it fired a rocket across the country last August. Following that incident, Tokyo broke off talks on restoring ties with North Korea and froze food aid and participation in the KEDO programme under which Japan was helping supply oil and atomic energy in return for Pyongyang giving up its nuclear weapons programme.
Meanwhile there was a bizarre twist to another saga across Asia involving North Koreans. In Thailand, the son of a North Korean diplomat seeking political asylum turned against his parents, saying: "I want to go back to my country, to be a patriot and not a traitor."
Mr Hong Won-myong (19) had been detained in the North Korean embassy in Bangkok after his diplomat father and his mother went into hiding. He emerged to say: "I love them, but if they don't want to follow me [home] I will cut them off."
The Thai government had been demanding that Mr Hong be released by the embassy as he had earlier asked for political asylum.