Could it be they are actually refugees and many arrive alive but Japan announces everyone is dead to protect their families?

smart thought. yes, definitely could be that in my opinion. Everyone wants to see people escape from North Korea, and no one wants to see innocent people get sent to a prison camp.

well, now you've gone and ruined it

It's not like North Korea is not suspecting it ..

It's the beginning of a Blacklist episode called "the fisherman".

I also was drawn in by the title but the ending made me very sad for those people. Reality is far harsher than any fiction.

If that's the most likely explanation, then you're right, it's not fine journalism- it's excellent journalism. It would be crappy journalism if they decided that Occam's Razor isn't entertaining enough and they had to float a bunch of theories to get more readers. The truth is that nobody knows the answer, and that the answer may or may not be entertaining.

The problem is that "unlucky" does not correlate very well with dozens of ships washing up with dead folks on Japan's shores.

Plus, the examination of corpses should make it possible to find out if they died from starvation or something else.

This is actually a weak way to end the article.

Well, they are examining the corpses, but that may not be conclusive: "Japanese officials are investigating the causes of death but say some of the bodies are in such a bad state of decomposition that it may be impossible to identify cause of death."

"some of the bodies", I'm pretty sure they will find at least one where they can identify what happened.

Hence the discussion of the recent developments in the North Korean economy that might have caused fishermen to take greater risks recently.

"The Image Slide Show they Don't Want You to See, the Insiders secret to why Ghost Ships End up in Japan!"

Thanks ekianjo -- he explained the point I was trying to convey better. It seemed like a total crap way to end the article and/or a cop-out.

Yes, surely they should have quoted it accurately: 'This is known as "bad luck.”'