Coast Guard to Get Tougher on Illegal Chinese Fishermen
By Kim Tae-jong
Staff Reporter
The Korea Coast Guard (KCG) has mapped out stronger measures against Chinese fishermen illegally operating in Korean waters, following the murder last week of a Coast Guard officer by Chinese fishermen illegally fishing in Korea's exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the West Sea.
Park Gyeong-jo, 48, a sergeant in the Mokpo Coast Guard, was killed Thursday night after being beaten around the head with blunt weapons wielded by a group of Chinese sailors during an operation to seize their vessel.
To avoid repetition, the KCG will form a special unit comprised of 160 officers and add more vessels to patrols. It plans to station a 3,000-ton armed ship permanently in the troubled areas as well as 1,000-ton and 1,500-ton vessels with water cannons. Also coastguards will be given protective jackets and helmets and be armed with electric truncheons and shields.
The confrontations between Korean coastguards and Chinese fishermen have continued through the years as the Korean EEZ in the West Sea, which is close to China's mainland, is considered one of the richest fishing areas around the Korean Peninsula.
According to the KCG, 159 Chinese ships have been seized for operating illegally in Korean waters so far this year ― in 2007, 494 were reported, an 18 percent drop from a record high 584 in 2005.
The government will also make efforts through diplomatic channels with Beijing.
``We are in talks with the Ministry of Justice to increase the amount of fines on seized boats and will ask the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries to call om the Chinese government to control its fishermen,'' a KCG official said.