VLADIVOSTOK, January 22 (RIA Novosti) - Japanese rescuers have called off a search for a vessel with 12 Russian crew members onboard that sank off Japan's Hokkaido Island last month, a spokesman for the local rescue service said on Thursday.

The Panama-flagged Ji Won No.1 vessel left the South Korean port of Mukho on December 22 and lost contact with its owner on December 25. The ship is believed to have been poaching in Japanese waters.

A search operation was launched on January 20, a day after the body of one of the Russian crew members was found in the Sea of Japan. Rescuers also said they had found the passports of four other Russians.

"According to Japan, the search for the vessel has been unsuccessful. Now the issue of continuing the search by using the aircraft from the Pacific Fleet is being discussed," a spokesman for Russia's maritime rescue center in the Far East port of Vladivostok said.