Eight bodies were found on Monday on a boat that has been washed ashore on the Sea of Japan (known as the East Sea in the Koreas) coast of Akita Prefecture in northern Japan, Kyodo reports, citing the Japanese coastguard. The wooden boat, which was spotted on a beach Sunday morning, may have come from North Korea. Similar cases with unidentified boats have been registered recently on the Japanese coast. The boat is different in shape from a North Korean fishing boat that was discovered last week at a marina some 70km south of the latest case. Three North Korean men were rescued earlier this month and seven bodies were recovered from two capsized boats off the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture.