Ghost ships with skeletons on board wash up in Japan.

Just another reason to end North Korea…

Tokyo (CNN)At least four ships have washed up on Japan’s west coast this month, some with bodies on board, and while authorities haven’t confirmed their origin, signs suggest they’re from North Korea.

Eight skeletons were found in the hull of one wooden boat that washed ashore on Miyazawa beach in the northwest of Japan’s main island Honshu, the Akita Coast Guard said Monday.

The unidentified boat was spotted drifting off shore on Friday but the grim discovery was only made when it reached land.

While officials would not confirm the boat was from North Korea, it matches a spate of vessels and debris that have ended up on Japan’s west coast.

Satoru Miyamoto, a professor at Seigakuin University and an expert on North Korea, said the number of ships washing ashore on Japan’s coast has risen since 2013.

“It’s after Kim Jong Un decided to expand the fisheries industry as a way of increasing revenue for the military. They are using old boats manned by the military, by people who have no knowledge about fishing,” Miyamoto said. “It will continue.”

Strange boats ashore

November 15: Three North Koreans rescued by the Japanese coast guard off Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa prefecture. Three dead bodies found on the boat the following day. All bodies and survivors returned to North Korea.
November 17: Four dead bodies discovered on board another boat which washed ashore in the same area.
November 23: Eight North Koreans rescued after boat washed up on shores of Akita prefecture.
November 27: Eight skeletons found aboard vessel found on Akita prefecture beach.

In this Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2017, photo provided by the 9th Regional Japan Coast Guard Headquarters, a boat of the Japan Coast Guard approaches a capsized wooden vessel, top, for a rescue operation in the water off Noto peninsula, northern coast of Japan. Three crew members rescued from the capsized boat are North Koreans, and Tokyo is arranging their return home. The area is a rich fishing ground where poachers from North Korea and China have been spotted. (9th Regional Japan Coast Guard Headquarters via AP)

Desperate situation

The spate of North Korean boats washing up in Japan is reminiscent of 2015, when more than 12 so-called ghost ships were discovered with dead bodies on board.

At the time, experts said the bodies on the boats could be those of refugees or fishermen, driven into more dangerous waters by desperation from North Korea’s well-documented food shortages.

In January this year, Japanese authorities rescued 26 North Koreans from a sinking tanker off the Goto Islands, in southwest Japan. The crew were later collected by another North Korean vessel.

Several North Korean fishermen rescued earlier this month by Japanese authorities were also returned to the country, on their request, officials said, indicating that at least some of those washing up on their neighboring nation’s shores are not attempting to flee there.

A wooden boat is moored at a nearby marina, in Yurihonjo, Akita prefecture, northern Japan, Friday, Nov. 24, 2017. Japanese police are investigating eight men found on Japan’s northern coast who say they are from North Korea and washed ashore after their boat broke down. Akita prefectural police said Friday they found the men late Thursday after receiving a call that a group of suspicious men were standing around at the seaside in Yurihonjo town. Police also found the wooden boat at the marina. (Kyodo News via AP)

There have been several high-profile defections this year however…