A North Korean submarine is lost off the East Coast, according to the US Naval Institute News.

For several days, US surveillance has been watching the North Korean Navy search for the vessel, which may have sunk or be adrift. At this stage, it does not appear as though the Western military is treating this as a subversive charade in order to ‘misplace’ their submarine in a more strategic location. It also does not appear that defection is under serious consideration.

Regardless of the flag under which a vessel sails, the loss of souls at sea is a terribly tragic event and we can only hope for their safe recovery. But, time spent underwater is perilous and the sub has been missing for days.

The event comes in the wake of refreshed tensions between Pyongyang and Seoul. Following protracted ballistic missile and nuclear testing by the hermit kingdom, Washington and Seoul have been stepping up their joint military exercises. In response, Kim Jong-un has threatened “pre-emptive and offensive nuclear strikes” against the South, saying that, if threatened, it is “ready to liberate” its estranged sibling.

Further sabre-rattling ensued. DPRK remarked that it was capable of executing a “high-precision blitzkrieg” if any of the joint exercises looked like they were leaning towards invasion.

Both South Korea and the US have stepped up surveillance of the area. The unnamed source from the US Naval Institute News said the North had not indicated that there was anything wrong or that it required assistance in searching for the missing vessel.

Although it was likely due to a physical malfunction, the event once again twists into focus the omnipresent anxiety experienced locally and globally each time the cut snake thrashes. When paranoid dictators threaten nuclear warfare, we pay attention. When they claim to be testing submarine-launched ballistic missiles, we fret. Even when we know it is fake. Even when they cannot possibly expect us to believe it. As well, when they lose one of their offending vessels, this too says something about who is guarding the key.

DPRK submarines more than double the South’s arsenal in number but, they are hardly of a comparable standard. Most of the 70-odd machines are of the ancient, rusting variety. It is not unreasonable to speculate that this may have contributed to the loss of the sub. Most of the fleet are just effective enough for short-range defence and tentative offensive attacks, rather than for long-range reconnaissance.

Even so, in 2010, a South Korean ship was found to have been torpedoed by a North Korean sub near the border. In August 2015, around 50 of the North’s fleet left their bases and disappeared from the South’s radar coverage. This means that even the old subs represent a characteristically high level of threat.

However, malfunction or not, we have no idea what was actually loaded on the North Korean sub. Adrift ballistics is a problem, especially if there is even the slimmest, most remote chance that one of the warheads is a nuclear test device. With that said, the safety of the crew is still the priority.

Adrift, sunk, fled, or strategically mislocated, the fate of the sub’s crew does not appear to be promising. Even as the Korean People’s Navy scrambles to find their fallen comrades, ever more caustic presage floats to the surface. As tensions continue to escalate, the lurking menace at the bottom of the murky water is beginning to give us chill that cause a shiver.

Let us hope they find their mates. Then, let us hope they find some sense.