When the North Korean ship Man Gyong Bong 92 touched the coastlines of South Korea in
2018, it was the first time a North Korean vessel had legally entered its neighbor's
territory in over 16 years.
The ship was carrying performers that were to participate in the Winter Olympics.
Protests were quick to ensue.
It wasn’t just because the vessel had come from a violent enemy state, it was the name
of the ship itself that was bound to create a stir in the minds of South Korean nationals.
Murder, Spying, kidnapping, drug trade, counterfeit currency, terrorism, attempts of political
assassination - this ship finds itself at the center of almost every crime the DPRK
has committed in the region.
It was North Korea’s primary asset in crime - a true spy ship - shrouded in mystery and
notoriety for most of its life.
When DPRK tried to repaint its controversial past by turning it into a luxurious cruise
ship, it turned out to be a colossal failure, earning itself the nickname of the 'least
luxurious cruise ship in the world by many.
This video is about an infamous spy-cum-passenger cruise ship and a dark chapter in the Japan-North
Korea relationship that made this ship invincible in Japanese waters.
The story begins not from the sea, but from Japan.
In colonial times more than 2 million Koreans had migrated from the Korean Peninsula to
Japan under conditions that involved varying degrees of freedom and coercion - some had
fled the war while others were brought as slaves of Japanese occupation.
The vast majority - more than 95% - came from the southern half of the Korean Peninsula.
When the war was over, the majority repatriated to South Korea - what remained was about 600,000
Koreans - who constituted Japan’s largest ethnic minority.
Called Zainichi Koreans, they often lived in deep poverty and uncertain social and legal
status.
Despite having lived in Japan for many decades, their nationality was uncertain.
They faced ethnic discrimination, limited educational and job opportunities, and a lack
of access to welfare.
Things took a turn in 1958 when the North Korean leader Kim Il-sung announced a program
to repatriate Zainichi Koreans to North Korea.
DPRK announced that it would wholeheartedly accept those who would want to move.
Following this announcement, pro-North Korean organizations in Japan launched a widespread
propaganda campaign to portray North Korea as a socialist “paradise on earth”, a
rapidly developing economy that was destined to be the most prosperous in the region - and
hence Zainichi Koreans should return for a bright future was awaiting them at home.
For discriminated and neglected Korean minorities, this sounded like a moment to cherish.
They could finally move to a country where they would not be treated like a second-class
citizen.
Soon enough Japan too declared its willingness to support this program which they called
a “humanitarian project.”
Unclassified reports later revealed that the Japanese government had been persuading the
North Korean government for many years to start such a scheme.
They already had drawn up a secret draft plan for a mass exodus of deprived Korean minorities
who were seen as criminals, burden on welfare schemes, and unfit for the Japanese society.
In return, North Korea expected better relationships with Japan, open trade routes, and lesser
restrictions since it desperately wanted to reduce its dependency on the Soviet Union.
Propaganda and conspiracy successfully convinced thousands of unsuspecting Zainichi Koreans
and they got ready to move to North Korea with their children and wives, many of whom
were Japanese citizens.
This mass migration of people from the “free world” to a dictatorial communist regime
of North Korea was sure to evoke opposition from the Republic of South Korea and the US,
so the Japanese government looped in the Japanese Red Cross to ensure a “confirmation of free
will” from migrants.
On the grounds, this was, for the most part, a facade to give this program credibility
in the eyes of the world.
Migrants had little to no real understanding of what they were getting themselves into.
The program kicked off with ships provided by the Soviet Union.
In just 2 years, from 1960 through 1961, more than 70,000 Korean left Japan and moved to
North Korea, in the hope of a better life.
On their arrival in North Korea, migrants were given free accommodations for a month,
where they received political education and then they were dispersed around the country
irrespective of their personal wishes.
Many were shocked to discover the poverty of the country to which they had come.
A North Korean official who later defected to South Korea, said and I quote “it is
painful to witness the disillusionment of the returnees.
It is accompanied by rage and words of insult towards the Red Cross and towards the humanitarianism
of which it always speaks, and which does nothing but send them down the slope of a
miserable country and a miserable situation”.
Sadly, there was no turning back.
DRPK would later brand these returnees as unreliable citizens or even worse - spies.
They would be sent to do hard labor in remote and impoverished villages, concentration camps,
or be incarcerated.
Some would try to escape, a few would succeed.
When words came back of difficult conditions in the North, the popularity of repatriation
dropped sharply, though the trickle of returnees to the north continues as late as 1984.
A total of about 90,000 people migrated including 6,000 Japanese citizens who were married to
Zainichi Koreans.
There's a documentary film called 'Dear Pyongyan' which is about a pro-north father who sends
his 3 sons from Japan to North Korea under the repatriation scheme, leaving their only
sister in Japan.
While the sister lived a fairly good life, her brothers struggled for survival and got
increasingly dependent on care packages and money sent by their parents.
Father would later regret his decision for breaking their family.
Lives destroyed, families divided and dispersed between two countries - the repatriation project
forged a deep and enduring social link between Japan and North Korea.
This led to a new era in the relationship between the two countries, which would be
very difficult for Japan to break from in the following decades.
The repatriation project had created a need for passenger direct sea link between the
two countries and in the 1970s, Japanese organizations helped North Korea build their first famous
cargo-passenger ship, the Man Gyong Bong to replace the soviet ones.
With a carrying capacity of two hundred passengers and a thousand tons of cargo, Man Gyong Bong
established a link between the coastal North Korean city of Wonsan and Japan’s Port of
Niigata.
Passengers were mostly migrants, relatives of migrants, and students of Chongryon schools
on orchestrated study trips to North Korea.
Cargo shipped from Japan was typically electronics, medical devices, and foreign-made manufactured
goods as well as care packages and cash help for relatives in North Korea.
For about a decade Japanese and North Korean citizens enjoyed a heyday of freedom in travel
and the DPRK continued to keep on good terms with the government in Tokyo.
However, as the eighties dawned, relations began to sour.
North Korea’s reputation was quickly becoming pear-shaped and Japan’s policymakers did
not follow many of the DPRK’s government demands.
North Korea provided a safe haven to a powerful Japanese terrorist group, the Japanese Red
Army, and committed a plethora of crimes against their neighbor South Korea, all while slandering
Japan in propaganda.
The relationship between North Korea and Japan continued to rock back and forth but evidently
didn’t become too sour as Japan feared the reaction of its volatile neighbor and ending
relations could be seen as harassing its 600,000 strong Korean minorities who had even stronger
ties with North Korea after mass repatriation.
Meanwhile, Man Gyong Bong was replaced by its successor - Man Gyong Bong 92 in the year
1992.
The Japan-based Korean organization made a four billion yen donation for Kim Il-sung's
birthday to help build it.
North Korea’s bond with Japan last for another decade until 2002 when it all came crashing
down.
In 2002, the government of North Korea finally admitted to abducting several Japanese nationals
who had gone missing throughout the 1970s and 80s.
Investigations later revealed that North Korea would steal their identities and force them
into the task of teaching Japanese language and culture at North Korean spy schools.
Some were abducted because they happened to witness the activities of North Korean agents
in Japan.
With North Korea only admitting to abducting thirteen citizens when there were probably
hundreds of kidnappings, public outrage was quick to ensue.
This admission threw glaring suspicion on the first Man Gyong Bong ship, with people
becoming extremely distrustful of the ship and suggesting that it had been involved in
the kidnappings since it was the only direct link between the two nations.
Man Gyong Bong 92, being the successor of the older ship, was suspected of continuing
these nefarious acts for North Korea.
While Japanese ministers thought over the rising demand for banning the ship, even more
accusations began to pile up against it.
For, much of its life, the vessel had been out of range and difficult to trace or identify,
making it violently suspicious, especially given the increasing volumes of evidence for
the ship’s eyebrow-raising activities in smuggling illegals drugs, such as amphetamines,
and counterfeit cash between North Korea and Japan.
Sorely aware of their lack of electronic hardware necessary for their military equipment, North
Korea was suspected of having launched a covert operation into Japan to smuggle electronic
devices and technological know-how that may be adapted for unpeaceful purposes.
Seemingly innocent tourists aboard the MGB 92 would trawl shopping malls in Tokyo looking
for the latest technology that could be bought, including game consoles and camera lenses,
which were then openly carried out of the country to the communist regime.
These components have been identified in North Korean missiles and other military weapons.
A crackdown on North Korean spy networks in japan in 2003, revealed that Man Gyong Bong
had been docking at the Japanese port of Niigata up to thirty times every year, to relay instructions
to North Korean agents and handlers in the country.
Additionally, Japanese authorities made public their concerns that this North Korean ship
may have delivered orders for the attempted assassination of South Korean president Park
Chung-hee in 1971.
Several arrests made under the spy charges revealed the role played by the ship in conveying
illicit secret messages between Pyongyang and Tokyo.
While the demand to ban the ship from Japanese waters was raised again, japan reacted by
tightening the search and surveillance measure for the ship to an unprecedented level.
With japan prepared to do the nation’s largest custom inspection, MGB 92 got increasingly
hesitant to arrive at Japanese ports.
In 2003, the ship made only one trip to japan compared to 23 trips the previous year.
The straw that finally broke the camel's back came about in 2006 when North Korea launched
seven nuclear missiles, all of which landed in the sea of japan.
This sparked a nuclear controversy, eventually leading to japan banning all North Korean
ships from trespassing on its water.
Temporary at first, the ban became permanent after six months, putting an end to the MGB
92’s legal voyages to Japan.
The banning of MGB 92 ended trade with Japan, and with that, smuggling and other illegal
activities took a hit.
The ship could no longer bring cash help from japan to help with North Korea's desperate
poverty.
Financially struggling North Korea turned to tourism to generate the much-needed cash
- the one industry exempted from international sanctions imposed upon the regime.
In a radical move, it was decided that MGB 92 would be refurbished into the country’s
first cruise ship to support tourism.
They fitted out the four-decade-old ship with whatever they could find - which turned out
to be very little - and made it ready for its maiden voyage in just six months.
The cruise line started out from the impoverished, run-down Korean city of Rason, and followed
along the east coast to reach Mount Kumgang, a scenic resort near the South Korean border.
One way journey took about 21 hours, which was part of the widely advertised 5-day long
“international luxury cruise trip”.
However, the experiences of the tourist were anything but that.
At first, the ferry-ship-turned-cruise-ship was in a state of despair with rusty portholes
and musty interiors.
The water on board was extremely unreliable and when available, it was a grimy brown soup
that trickled out of outdated taps.
The best of the cabins were equipped with bunk beds, while many passengers had to make
do with a mattress on the floor.
Food options were limited and just as unreliable as the water – fruit, noodles, and dried
fish served cafeteria-style in rooms good for nothing except for questionable levels
of sanitation.
For entertainment, there was karaoke in the main hall - the tour operators would sing
while the waitresses danced.
Phones and laptops – indeed all electronics – were not allowed on the cruise and were
confiscated as soon as tourists entered the country.
Travelers were thoroughly checked and re-checked numerous times throughout the journey to avoid
spying.
Almost all “international” travelers on the cruise were Chinese nationals who could
compromise on security, hygiene, and services to see the odd corners of the odd country
of North Korea.
For everyone else, the MGB 92 cruise ship was a poor deal.
It lacked good facilities, even any facilities at all, and offered meager services at best,
while the operators still felt the need to charge about $500 from each passenger who
braved the journey.
Eventually – and unsurprisingly – the cruise ship career of Man Gyong Bong 92 eventually
screeched to a halt.
The DPRK’s attempts to repair the vessel’s reputation by converting it into a “luxury”
cruise ship had fallen on its face and the stories of the horrible conditions inside
the ship were all over the internet.
In 2013, the tour operators rented a newer, nicer boat from Singapore to operate on the
cruise route.
The Royale Starship made a few trips in the region hoping that the North Korean government
would allow non-Chinese foreigners to board the cruise but that obviously didn’t happen.
Lack of profitable customers, DPRK’s sanctions, demands, and a plethora of other reasons eventually
ended the experiment of a cruise line in the country.
Meanwhile, MGB 92 sat idle at Rajin port hoping for japan to lift restrictions on trade and
travel, while occasionally roaming the waters, up to its shady business in the water of east
Asia.
An incident in 2018 involved the stranding of North Korea’s infamous spy ship near
Vladivostok, Russia, for over a week where thirty crew members were subjected to a freezing
temperature of -20 degrees, without any fuel and far from ample supplies.
The port authorities refused to allow mooring of the ship in suspicion that the ship was
harboring illegal cargo and the crew onboard wasn't ready for inspection of the ship.
It wasn’t until they raised the distress alarm that emergency help could be sent from
the port.
Later that year, MGB 92 carried a 150 person delegation of orchestra and musicians to South
Korea to perform during the Winter Olympics.
Despite protests, the ban on North Korean vessels was temporarily lifted to allow the
ship to enter the South Korean border for the first time in 16 years.
The ship hasn't appeared in the public spotlight since then.
The current whereabouts of ships is unknown.
With the current shortage of cargo ships North Korea has been facing, it's logical to assume
that MGB 92 is out there in the sea, perhaps under a different, indulged in some other
illegal activity for its country.