North Korean ‘Ghost Ships’ Deliver Grim Cargo To Russian Coast

A fishing boat rolling in the waves after it drifted to shore near the town of Zarubino on August 30.

The body of a man discovered with the vessel. Journalist Aleksandr Krestov, from local media outlet VL.ru, told RFE/RL the body was still on the beach late on August 31, with police claiming it was the responsibility of local morticians to remove it.

Since Typhoon Soulik tore through the seas near Russia’s Primorsky Krai in mid-August, several boats thought to be from secretive and impoverished North Korea have washed ashore.

This capsized ship was discovered around 150 kilometers from Vladivostok.

Once the tide retreated, a Korean-speaking man was rescued from inside on August 29 after an excavator crunched through the wooden hull. The survivor was hauled out “all skinny, with red eyes,” according to a witness.

On August 31, the man was said to be recuperating in a nearby hospital.

Around 70 fishermen have reportedly been picked up by the Russian Coast Guard since Typhoon Soulik hit. Others, like these four North Koreans whose boat washed ashore on August 29, were rescued by locals. The four have since been deported back to North Korea minus the 11 crewmates they say were lost at sea in the storm.

Fishing is a major industry in North Korea, but most of the country’s deepwater vessels, like this one (pictured in the Sea of Japan in November 2017) are tragically underequipped.

On August 28, this vessel was discovered abandoned except for the corpse of a man inside, on Russky Island, near Vladivostok.

The body recovered from the Russky Island shipwreck. Local police contacted by RFE/RL declined to comment on the causes of death of the recently discovered bodies, but exposure and malnutrition are believed to have killed fishermen discovered in similar situations along the coast of Japan.

A North Korean fishing vessel discovered on Russky Island by local surfers on August 09. The current wave of stricken vessels washing up on Russian shores may be set to continue.

On September 4, super-typhoon Jebi, a storm far more powerful than the recent typhoon Soulik is forecast to sweep through the sea of Japan near the Russian and North Korean coastlines.