Naval forces drive out North Korean fishing boat

A North Korean fishing boat, left, is forced to return to its territorial waters after being found adrift 114 kilometers northeast of the South Korean eastern islets of Dokdo on Saturday morning. On the right is a South Korean patrol ship. Yonhap

By Lee Min-hyung

South Korean maritime forces drove out a North Korean fishing boat, Saturday, hours after the ship crossed into South Korean waters off the east coast.

A patrol aircraft of the naval force found the five-ton boat adrift 114 kilometers northeast of the South’s easternmost islets of Dokdo at around 9 a.m.

The South’s Korea Coast Guard then dispatched a 1,500-ton patrol ship to send the North Korean vessel back to its territorial waters.

At around 12:10 p.m., a North Korean naval force contacted its southern counterpart to ask for help in sending back the ship, according to the coast guard.

It said the ship was presumed to be a squid fishing boat with seven North Korean sailors on board.

The maritime security force tried to find out why the ship was adrift in South Korean waters, but North Korean sailors declined to comment and rejected assistance from the South’s coast guard.

The South Korean patrol vessel kept watch in case the North Korean ship tried to return after it drove it away to North Korean waters at around 8 p.m. Saturday.

“The Navy and the coast guard kept exchanging information upon notification of the incident and coped with the situation by reporting the case to the government’s crisis management center in real time,” an official from the coast guard said.

The latest incident came about a week after another small wooden North Korean boat was able to dock at a South Korean port in Samcheok, Gangwon Province, on June 15.

This sparked controversy over the South’s lax security management in its waters, as the boat crossed into the waters in the South and even went undetected until it was reported by a citizen.

Last week, Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo apologized over the incident, pledging to sternly punish those responsible for neglecting the duties in guarding the maritime border area.