VESSELS OF DEATH
Mystery as North Korean ghost ships filled with ROTTING CORPSES wash ashore in Japan
Authorities were left baffled by the arrival of dozens of rickety boats over the last few years
EMERGING out of the mist, the hulking mass of a decaying vessel, its tattered North Korean flag fluttering in the breeze, silently floats toward the shore.
The sight became an eerily common one in Japan, where some dozens of the so-called ghost ships have reportedly turned up in recent years.
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Crewed only by dead men unable to tell of what happened on their final voyage, mystery has surrounded the phenomenon.
All that was known was that the boats were almost certainly from North Korea.
Writing in Korean – including signs indicating the boat belonged to the “Korean People's Army” – and the remains of North Korean flags provided the only concrete evidence as to their origins.
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But why they began washing ashore in towns on Japan’s west coast, and what exactly was killing their crews remained a mystery.
The phenomenon left authorities scratching their heads and prompted an investigation in the country.
Officials conducted autopsies on the bodies of those found on board, finding many had been dead for months, according to the .
But many were so badly decomposed it was impossible to establish their cause of death.
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One theory emerged claiming the unlucky men were desperate defectors who had decided to take their chances in flimsy boats on the open ocean to escape Kim Jong-un’s oppressive regime.
People risk their lives every year to flee the authoritarian rogue state, which prevents most of its citizens from ever leaving.
But it was soon pointed out that defectors would find it much easier to sail the short distance to South Korea than to make the perilous journey hundreds of miles across the Sea of Japan.
Instead, experts now believe the dead men – who were all in civilian clothes – were just poor fishermen.
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North Korea has struggled to feed its population in the past, with famines reportedly killing thousands.
Kim Jong-un is thought to have been putting pressure on the country’s fishing industry to increase production, prompting fishermen to sail out further.
But the rickety boats – none of which had GPS equipment, according to the – were ill-equipped for the rough conditions on the open ocean.
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It is claimed Kim has even sent inexperienced soldiers out to sea to fish in order to bolster the national catch.
Jiro Ishimaru of Asia Press, told the : “When Kim Jong-un issues an order no one can ignore it, even if he is asking them to do the impossible.
“That means inexperienced soldiers go out to sea, even in terrible conditions and with no idea what they are doing.”
It is believed the boats then get caught in bad weather or get lost, drifting on the ocean until the crew die from starvation or exposure to the elements.
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