Number of drifting N. Korean boats continues to surge

An increasing number of wooden boats believed to be registered to North Korea have been found drifting off Japan or washed ashore. In fiscal 2018, which ends March 31, there have already been a total of 220 such boats, 1.7 times more than the previous fiscal year, which had marked a record high.

The North Korean fishery promotion policy, encouraged by the country’s leadership, is believed to lie behind this increase, and there is growing concern among residents in coastal areas of Japan where such boats are brought ashore.

While the Japan Coast Guard is stepping up surveillance activities, illegal fishing activities by Chinese vessels have been newly confirmed, leading to a greater security burden in territorial waters and the exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

On Feb. 11 and 12, two bodies believed to be those of men were found inside a wooden boat that was being dismantled on the coast in the town of Kikonai, Hokkaido, which faces the Sea of Japan.

The capsized wooden boat was found washed ashore in the town in November last year, with letters from the Korean Hangul alphabet written on the hull. It took three months to dismantle, because wooden boats had washed up in Hokkaido one after another, causing a delay in the payment of subsidies by the Hokkaido government for demolishing such boats.

“As the boat with corpses was left untouched for as long as three months, residents must have been worried. There were also concerns about hygiene,” said an official of the Kikonai town government.

In Okinoshima, Shimane Prefecture, a wooden boat carrying four people from North Korea washed ashore on Jan. 8. The incident prompted local residents and others to start monitoring areas along the coast with binoculars when the sea is rough and checking whether there are any suspicious people on the roads.

“In this incident, these people arrived in the town during the daytime to ask local residents for help, but we’re nervous about the possibility of such people visiting us suddenly late at night,” said Toshinaga Hamada, 80, a resident and senior official of the town’s fishermen’s cooperative.

According to the JCG, 130 wooden boats were found to be drifting off or washed up in Japan in fiscal 2017, while the number of such cases were 220 this fiscal year, as of Feb. 15. Of the 220 for this fiscal year, 176 were found to have washed ashore across 10 prefectures.

A likely reason for the increase is the fact that illegal squid fishing by North Korean-registered fishing boats began increasing two years ago in and around Yamatotai, a good fishing ground located in the Japanese EEZ about 300 kilometers northwest of the Noto Peninsula.

Many North Korean fishing boats appeared in the area during this fiscal year’s fishing season from May to November, and JCG patrol vessels warned over 1,600 vessels to leave the area.

Many of the drifting boats were apparently shipwrecked during the fishing season and driven by seasonal winds blowing from the continent to Japan after autumn.

“Compared to usual years, the squid fishing grounds extended to the north. In addition, North Korean fishermen had no choice but to go far in poorly equipped boats. This might be another reason for the increase in the number of boats drifting off or washing ashore in Japan,” a senior JCG official said.

A fishing boat found off Fukaura, Aomori Prefecture, on Jan. 13 was just 10 meters long. Two crew members were found inside. They had had engine trouble during squid fishing, and three other crew members had fallen into the ocean and gone missing due to a storm. After that, the boat drifted for about a month, according to the JCG.

The JCG plans to step up security around Yamatotai from spring, when squid fishing fully starts. However, a new threat is also emerging. The JCG warned only three Chinese vessels to leave the area in fiscal 2017, but the number of Chinese boats receiving such warnings has increased to 89 this fiscal year. Since Chinese vessels are strong steel ships, they are unlikely to wash up in Japan. However, the scope of ships that require caution will expand.

Furthermore, since the end of January, Chinese vessels believed to be illegally coral fishing have been repeatedly found off Tokyo’s Ogasawara Islands in the Pacific Ocean for the first time in four years, which is another cause for concern.

The JCG adopts a “twofront operation” to guard areas around the Senkaku Islands in Okinawa Prefecture, where Chinese government vessels repeatedly intrude on Japanese territorial waters, and areas around Yamatotai. The JCG deploys its 12 patrol vessels near the Senkakus and several large patrol vessels in the areas around Yamatotai.

If Japan needs to significantly step up security in waters around the Ogasawara Islands in the future, it could affect operations around Yamatotai.

“The number of officers and vessels are limited. If we launch a ‘three-front operation,’ we need to review the entire operation again,” a senior JCG official said.