12 'Ghost Ships' Carrying Decomposed Bodies Arrive on Japan's Shores; Experts Say The Vessels May Have Come From North Korea

Japanese authorities are investigating a spine-tingling mystery after several ships washed up on Japan's shores.

CNN reported Wednesday at least 12 wrecked wooden boats have been found in the Sea of Japan or near the country's coast. The ships carry a horrifying cargo - the decaying bodies of 22 people.

The decomposed corpses were described as "partially skeletonized" with two of them found without heads. According to the coast guard, one of the 12 ships contained six skulls.

The first of the "ghost ships" was discovered in October, and more of them were found in November.

The coast guard is still going through investigations to figure out the origins of the boats. However, there is a growing speculation that the ships may have come from North Korea considering the handwritten inscription on one boat that suggests it belonged to unit 325 of the North Korean army, Reuters noted Tuesday.

Footage from Japanese broadcaster NKH also showed that there were several tattered cloth found inside the vessel and was presumed to be part of a North Korean flag.

Defectors and experts were open to the possibility of the fishing boats being under the command of the Korean People's Army. It is presumed that fishermen were pressured to catch more fish, which eventually led to them going off-course and reaching the rough seas without proper equipment. The coast guard added that the vessels did not have GPS navigation systems. It is presumed that the passengers died eventually of starvation while being lost at sea.

"Kim Jong Un has been promoting the fisheries, which could explain why there are more fishing boats going out," Bukyong National University professor of fisheries science Kim Doo Hoon said.

"But North Korean boats perform really poorly, with bad engines, risking lives to go far to catch more. Sometimes they drift and fishermen starve to death," he added.

John Nilsson-Wright, head of the Asia program at the Chatham House policy institute, also opined that the ships may have carried defectors attempting to flee North Korea.

Nilsson-Wright said, "What we do know is that for those people living outside of (North Korean capital) Pyongyang ... life remains extraordinarily hard, and it may be an economic necessity as much as a desire for political freedom (that is) encouraging some people in the North to try and leave the country."

According to the Christian Science Monitor, coast guard officials reported that some of the bodies have been autopsied but their nationalities or cause of death could not be determined.