To me, this is just more evidence of just how bad things are for poorer people in North Korea where people pile their relatives on a boat so they won't be tortured to death after one leaves
to sea and they
wind up starving to death without enough food together and wash ashore in Japan months later. At least they all die together this way and don't have to worry about other relatives being tortured to death.
This just tells me just how bad North Korea really is.They are skeletons because the sea birds have picked the bodies clean.
begin quote from:
Several
wooden boats, some carrying skeletons, have mysteriously washed ashore
in Japan in recent weeks. Authorities are still investigating where the
so-called …
Ghost ships believed to be from North Korea wash ashore in Japan
Ghost ships believed to be from North Korea wash ashore in Japan (ABC News)
Several
wooden boats, some carrying skeletons, have mysteriously washed ashore
in Japan in recent weeks. Authorities are still investigating where the
so-called "ghost ships" came from, but experts say all signs point to
North Korea.
The
Japanese coast guard on Thursday recovered one decrepit vessel drifting
off the western coast of Matsumae town on the northern island of
Hokkaido. Ten men found aboard the wooden ship identified themselves as
North Koreans and said they were taking refuge at an island nearby due
to rough weather.
PHOTO:
A wooden boat, top, is seen near a patrol ship of Japan Coast Guard off
Matsumae, Hokkaido, Japan, Nov. 29, 2017. (Iori Sagisawa/Kyodo News via
AP)
PHOTO: A wooden boat is seen off Matsumae town, Hokkaido northern Japan, Nov. 29, 2017. (Iori Sagisawa/Kyodo News via AP)
On
Monday, the partially decomposed bodies of eight men were discovered on
a rickety wooden boat on the coast of Japan's Akita prefecture, which
faces North Korea across the Sea of Japan. The coast guard first spotted
the unidentified ship Saturday, but rough seas prevented them from
approaching it at the time.
“The coast guard and police
have to cooperate to step up sea patrols around Japan,” Japan’s Chief
Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters at a press briefing
Tuesday night when asked about the grim find. “The government intends to
improve this to ensure we can guard against suspicious boats or people
arriving in Japan."
Suga
declined to make any speculations on the vessel's origin, saying the
investigation is ongoing. However, a coast guard official in Akita, who
spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, said one of the bodies was holding a 1,000 won North Korean note.
The coast guard and Akita prefecture officials did not immediately respond to ABC News' requests for comment Saturday.
PHOTO:
A wooden boat found by Japan Coast Guard after it drifted ashore with
eight partially skeletal bodies is pictured in Oga, Akita Prefecture,
Japan, Nov. 27, 2017. (Kyodo/via Reuters)
Last
week, Akita prefecture police officers rescued eight unknown men from
another wooden ship seen drifting near Yurihonjo city's marina at night
on Nov. 23, according to Suga.
The
men, who appeared to be healthy, told police they are from North Korea
and their ship broke down while they were fishing, causing them to drift
all the way to Japan's west coast. Authorities are investigating their
claims, Suga said.
PHOTO:
A wooden boat is moored at a nearby marina, in Yurihonjo, Akita
prefecture, northern Japan, Nov. 24, 2017. (Kyodo News via AP)
PHOTO:
The wreckage of a boat is pictured along a sea wall in the city of
Yurihonjo, Akita prefecture, Japan, Nov. 24, 2017. (AFP/Getty Images)
A
week earlier, on Nov. 15, the coast guard rescued three men from a
capsized vessel off Japan's Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa prefecture. The
men told authorities they are North Korean and they asked to return
home, Suga said. The incident is being investigated.
While
Japan has no formal diplomatic relations with North Korea, Suga said
there were efforts underway to send the men back home.
The
coast guard found three bodies of missing crew members from that boat
the following day, then four more bodies on another wrecked ship in the
same area a day later, also believed to be North Korean, according to
The Associated Press.
Suga assured reporters on Tuesday that these ships pose "no immediate danger."
PHOTO:
A Japan Coast Guard rescue team approaches a capsized North Korean boat
(top) on the Sea of Japan (East Sea), about 225 miles northwest of the
Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture, Nov. 15, 2017. (Japan Coast
Guard/HANDOUT/AFP/Getty Images)
The
"ghost ships" aren't a new phenomenon, experts say. Jeff Kingston,
director of Asian studies at Temple University Japan, estimates about
500 crude vessels thought to be North Korean have washed up on Japan's
coastline since 2011 and more of them will likely appear in the months
ahead, he said.
"What
it signifies to me is the conditions in North Korea are exceptionally
grim," Kingston told ABC News in an interview in Tokyo.
According to Kingston, Japan has seen a surge in suspected North Korean ships arriving on its shores since North Korean leader Kim Jong Un
urged the expansion of the fisheries industry to counter the nation's
well-documented food shortages. Among North Korea's 24.9 million people,
an estimated 18 million are dependent on government food rations while
10.5 million are believed to be undernourished, according to a report published by the United Nations in March.
Most
of the people found aboard these ragged ships, dead or alive, are
believed to be inexperienced fishermen who struggle to navigate the
region's rough seas in the fall and winter. There are suspicions that
some intend to defect or are attempted refugees fleeing the dire
conditions at home, Kingston said.
"Come November, this is really dangerous water," he said of the Sea of Japan, also known as the East Sea.
Another
factor could be North Korea's reported sale of its fishing rights in
its coastal waters to China, its top trading partner and diplomatic
ally.
"So
Chinese fishing trawlers are going through the coastal waters of North
Korea and this is pushing North Korean fishermen out beyond their
comfort zone into the dangerous Sea of Japan, and some of them aren't
surviving," Kingston said.
PHOTO:
Map showing where North Korean sailors and deceased suspected North
Koreans have drifted to Japan in November 2017. (AFP via Newscom)
Satoru
Miyamoto, a professor at Japan's Seigakuin University who specializes
in North Korea, said there's evidence that the North Korean economy is
actually improving, despite decades of international isolation and
sanctions. Healthier, lower-calorie foods such as fish are in demand
among North Korea's small but growing upper class, he said.
"Seafood
is popular in North Korea. So many people, like farmers, become
fishermen with the seasons," Miyamoto told ABC News in an email, adding
that many boats of less-experienced fishermen wash up on Japanese
coastlines due to apparent accidents.
The demand for North Korean seafood was also fueled by China's wealthy, Miyamoto said, until the United Nations Security Council in September banned the import of North Korean seafood.
The
Japanese coast guard has detected 59 cases so far this year of boats
and debris washing up on the nation's northern coastlines, compared to
66 last year and 80 in 2012, according to The Associated Press.
"I'm sure there are many that are sinking," Kingston said. "So it's probably a lot worse than we actually know."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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