Shots fired at North Korea-linked group headquarters in Japan

TOKYO - Japanese police arrested two men on Friday (Feb 23) after several bullets were fired at the Tokyo headquarters of a group linked to North Korea, a spokesman and media said.

The men pulled up at the complex housing the pro-Pyongyang General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryon) in a van shortly before 4am, before one of them fired multiple shots at the gate, media reported.

Police at the heavily guarded complex arrested the two, who media said had links to right-wing groups.

Japan has strict gun laws and shootings, almost always gang-related, are extremely rare.

Tensions remain high between North Korea and Japan over the North's nuclear programme and its testing of several missiles in recent years, including two that flew over Japanese territory last year.

About 500,000 ethnic Koreans live in Japan, many of them descended from the two million Koreans brought to Japan as forced labour during Japan's 1910-1945 colonisation of the peninsula.