The Tokyo District Court sentenced two men Tuesday to two-year prison terms suspended for three years and fines of 500,000 yen for smuggling secondhand fishing boats to North Korea in August last year.
Yun Kyong Jung, 52, a South Korean ship broker, and Jumpei Maeda, 67, a trader, were found guilty of violating the foreign exchange and other laws.
Prosecutors had demanded the prison terms, without suspension, along with the fines.
The two are the first of six people charged in the smuggling incident to be sentenced.
Of the remaining four, two have denied the allegations, saying they were not aware they were doing anything wrong.
According to the ruling, Yun, Maeda and the four others illegally exported secondhand fishing vessels to North Korea from Onahama port in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, via South Korea.
The ruling said the men did not obtain government approval, instead falsely claiming in an export declaration in August 2000 that the vessels were bound for Indonesia.