The cost of freedom

This site often highlight a successful escape from North Korea. It is equally important to highlight when it does not succeed (Via. Japan Probe)

TAINAI, Niigata — Skeletal remains found here in December appear to have belonged to a North Korean man involved in either a boating accident or a failed attempt to flee the Stalinist state, police said.

Increasing numbers of wooden North Korean boats have washed ashore in places such as Niigata and Ishikawa prefectures recently.

Clothes covering the remains discovered on a Tainai coastline toward the end of last year indicate that the dead man was probably North Korean.

Police said the head and torso discovered on Dec. 11 belonged to a man aged in his 30s to 50s, who had died somewhere between two to six months previously. The remains were clad in a mauve polo shirt and khaki jacket with a star-shaped mark on one of its chest buttons.

Police said the designs and materials used with the clothes are not available in Japan and probably came from North Korea.

Based on this report it is uncertain whether this victim was trying to escape, but it does not look like it is some unlucky fisherman. Here’s the accompanying news report