North Korea Ship Sank, Killing 90 Soldiers: Report

File: A South Korean navy ship patrols the fishery near the border facing North Korea on June 8, 2018, in Hyeonnae, South Korea. Around 2,700 South Korean villagers live under tight military defense at Hyeonnae, a township on the east coast of South Korea consisting of 10 villages along the border with North Korea.

A North Korean vessel overloaded with soldiers capsized last month in waters in the country's southern border area, killing an estimated 90 people, according to a South Korean broadcaster.

Seoul-based TV Chosun, citing a South Korean intelligence assessment, said on Monday that the accident in early May led to "considerable internal turmoil" among the rank and file of the North's military.

The "large ship" carried more than 130 laborers, all mobilized from within the military, and sank in a river while transporting the group to build border fortifications in the country's east, it said.

The report linked the aftermath to Pyongyang's "recent provocations" against Seoul, including its high-profile missile launches, its sending of trash-carrying balloons across the inter-Korean border, and its GPS jamming in the peninsula's western seas.

North Korea, although unlikely to disclose related mishaps, has reported no incidents matching the report's details. Its embassy in Beijing did not return multiple requests for comment.

South Korea's National Intelligence Service has not made public any similar assessments in its intelligence reports on the North. Seoul's spy agency could not be reached for comment after hours.

Last month, TV Chosun, also citing government sources, said a major North Korean cyber operation had hacked the personal communications of senior defense officials in the South, including in the Defense Ministry and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The breach was later confirmed by the country's police and its military.

The order to mobilize as many as 1,000 troops a day began in mid-January following North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's fiery national address, in which he called the South his regime's "principal enemy"—a move that led long-time North Korea watchers to conclude that Kim had made the decision to go to war.

Kang Sun Nam, North Korea's defense minister, visited the site of the accident and ordered higher safety standards, but it did little to quell discontent within the military, TV Chosun said.

South Korean authorities believed the North was seeking to "divert attention" away from the sinking by ramping up tensions against its old Cold War foe.

Maritime mishaps of a military nature are rarely acknowledged, if at all.

Late last month, Taiwan's spy chief Tsai Ming-yen said a Chinese navy Type 093, or Shang-class, nuclear-powered attack submarine experienced "some accident" last year, the first known public acknowledgment by any government of the incident first rumored to have taken place in August in the Yellow Sea.

Tsai did not offer further details, including whether there were confirmed casualties, saying only that the boat did not sink, as the U.K.'s Daily Mail newspaper had reported in October, citing a British intelligence report.

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