More North Korean 'ghost ships' drifting into Japanese coast

AFP:

A severe shortage of food and foreign currency amid harsh international sanctions are contributing to rising numbers of North Korean “ghost ship” fishing vessels washing up in Japanese waters, analysts said.

Dozens of North Korean fishing vessels wash up on Japan’s coast ever year, but last month Japanese coastguards registered 28 cases, the highest monthly number since records began in 2014.

Meanwhile, there have been multiple cases of “ghost ships” found packed full of bodies, with 18 corpses recovered so far this year. During the same period, there has been a record number of North Korean fishermen rescued alive – 42 this year compared to zero in 2016.

Japanese authorities say it is often hard to determine exactly how they died as the boats often drift for months before washing up in Japan.

“Fishermen are desperate to meet annual catch goals, which are elevated to higher levels every year,” said Toshimitsu Shigemura, professor emeritus of Waseda University and North Korea expert.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ordered an increase in fishing when he took power in 2013, analysts noted.

“Since then, fishermen have been frantically trying to meet [annual] catch goals, but what’s different this year is that they are travelling to distant waters in their fragile boats,” said Pyon Jinil, a leading North Korea watcher and writer based in Japan.
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In a capitalist system, the government does not have to command people to make certain production goals.  If you want more of a product you offer to raise the price you are willing to pay for it.  But in the communist system, like that in slavery, all the incentives are negative.  The North Korean government made the system even more difficult for their own people by selling some of their fishing rights to China as a means to raise money, thereby forcing their own fisherman to go further from their ports.