The Incheon Coast Guard conducts a firing drill against violent Chinese fishermen and boats catching fish illegally in the South Korean waters off Incheon, west of Seoul, on Oct. 13, 2016. Six patrol boats joined the drill, which followed the government’s recent decision to use force and firearms against violence by illegal Chinese fishermen. The stern measure came about after a Coast Guard speedboat was sunken by a Chinese boat which rear-ended it in defiance of a crackdown on illegal fishing inside the South Korean waters on Oct. 7. (Photo courtesy of Coast Guard) (Yonhap)
The gloves may finally be coming off after the sinking of a ROK Coast Guard speed boat by the illegal Chinese fishing boats this past week:
China’s foreign ministry on Wednesday asked South Korea to stay calm in dealing with Chinese boats illegally fishing in the neighboring country’s waters a day after Seoul said it will be more firm with lawbreakers.
South Korea’s decision to strengthen law enforcement, even authorizing the use of firearms, is not a fundamental solution to the problem and will only cause more trouble, said Chinese ministry spokesman Geng Shuang during a regular press briefing.
The remark was made a day after South Korea’s Coast Guard said it plans to actively use force, including crew-served weapons, against boats and fishermen that violently interfere with the authorities’ execution of their duties.
The announcement by the Seoul government came a few days after a 4.5-ton Coast Guard speedboat was sunk Friday during an operation against illegal fishing in the Yellow Sea when a 100-ton Chinese boat intentionally rear-ended it.
The Chinese ministry, however, said the Chinese boat was legitimately operating in a zone where fishing was allowed.
South Korea should refrain from using excessive force that could harm the safety of Chinese nationals, the spokesman added. [Yonhap]
What would the Chinese government do if the ROK had fishing boats parked right off the coast of Hainan or the Paracel Islands in southern China and their coast guard personnel were attacked? I am willing to bet they would not show the restraint the ROK Coast Guard has so far shown.
The ROK government is under increasing pressure to do something about the increasing number of illegal Chinese fishing boats that continue to violate South Korea’s sovereign waters:
The government is under pressure to come up with stronger measures to stop Chinese fishermen from operating in Korean waters illegally.
The calls come three days after a Coast Guard speed boat sank after being rammed by a Chinese fishing vessel.
The 4.5-ton boat was one of two Korean vessels dispatched to waters near Socheong Island where 40 Chinese boats were fishing illegally. The Chinese boat weighed about 400 tons.
Rep. Chung Jin-suk, the floor leader of the ruling Saenuri Party, demanded stern action from the administration. “The government should find the Chinese vessels that escaped and bring them to justice,” he said.
Noting it is about maritime sovereignty, Chung said, “It is not news that Chinese fishermen use steel pipes and knives against coastguards during crackdowns. I wonder if the Korean authorities have become powerless.”
He said his party would consider stationing more Coast Guard officers in the West Sea.
Rep. Woo Sang-ho, the floor leader of the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea, echoed Chung. “The violent, illegal activities by Chinese fishing boats are beyond a tolerable level. I would say they are not fishermen but pirates.” [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but maybe the ROK Coast Guard should treat them as pirates and sink them on the spot if they don’t comply with demands?
Maybe the ROK is taking the approach President Duerte takes for drug dealers and applying it to Chinese fishermen who continue to plague the country’s waters:
Three Chinese fishermen were killed on Thursday in a fire that broke out on their boat when South Korean coastguard men trying to apprehend them for illegal fishing threw flash grenades into a room they were hiding in, a South Korean official said.
Disputes over illegal fishing are an irritant in relations between China and U.S. ally South Korea, even as their economic relations grow close. They also share concern about North Korea’s nuclear weapon and missile programs.
The three men were believed to have suffocated, a coastguard official in the South Korean port city of Mokpo said, adding that the incident was being investigated.
The fire broke out in the boat’s steering room, the official, who is not authorized to speak with media and declined to be identified, told Reuters by telephone.
South Korean authorities were questioning the 14 surviving crew and coastguard members involved in the operation, the official added.
China’s Foreign Ministry said it had lodged a protest with Seoul about the incident.
Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a daily news briefing Beijing was also urging South Korea to hold a “comprehensive and objective” investigation into the incident, along with China. [Reuters via reader tip]
You can read more at the link, but definitely compared to the past where these fishermen having actually murdered Korean Coast Guard personnel it is clear ROK authorities have taken a more aggressive stance to stop them.
This is actually a pretty good idea which also makes me wonder if it can also help deter North Korean submarine activity as well in the area?:
North Korea on Monday condemned the artificial reef structures being placed in the West Sea by South Korea to control Chinese illegal fishing activities, calling it part of Seoul’s military provocations against Pyongyang’s maritime demarcation line.
In March, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF) said it will set up a total of eight artificial reef structures in the eastern waters off Baengnyeongdo, Daecheongdo and Socheongdo, all located south of the northern limit line (NLL), to prevent Chinese fishing vessels from intruding into the South Korean waters.
Drawn by the U.S.-led United Nations Command at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, the NLL is the de facto sea border between the two Koreas, although the North has not recognized it as such.
According to the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the West Sea Fleet of the Navy of the Korean People’s Army (KPA) said South Korea’s new artificial structures can only be seen a encroachments on its waters.
“The fish-breeding reef, structure weighing dozens of tons, is being set up in the sensitive waters which witnessed three skirmishes in the past, a fact clearly showing the provocative nature,” KCNA said.
Such provocative acts have revealed Seoul’s “sinister intention” to spark a military conflict in the world’s most dangerous waters, the North’s state-run media outlet claimed. [Yonhap]
Kim Jong-un is not only using the Chinese fishing boats as part of a asymmetric warfare strategy, but he is also making money at the expense of food for his own people:
The cash-strapped Pyongyang regime, under heavy international sanctions in 2016, sold $30 million worth of fishing rights to more than a 1,000 Chinese vessels, The Korea Herald reported Friday.
The number of licenses issued has tripled from previous years, said Lee Wan-young, a South Korean lawmaker of the ruling Saenuri party, after a meeting with the National Intelligence Service.
“North Korean people, too, are unhappy because it has shrunk the catch and caused common complaints with their southern counterparts regarding worsening environmental damage such as from fuel oil sludge at sea,” Lee said. [UPI]
You can read more at the link, but so much for China supposedly aggressively applying financial sanctions on North Korea.
This is just more evidence that the Kim regime is using the Chinese fishing boats as an asymmetric warfare tactic against South Korea:
South Korea urged North Korea on Monday to immediately stop making military threats such as shelling the South’s Yeonpyeong Island.
North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency called on South Korea to stop “reckless military provocations” by continuing its crackdowns on illegal Chinese fishing boats in the neutral waters of the Hangang River estuary near the western sea border. The state-run news agency said that such actions could spark a retaliation from the North similar to the attack on Yeonpyeong Island in November of 2010 which resulted in four people dead and 18 injured.
South Korea’s unification ministry responded by saying such rhetoric is not appropriate and do not help improve inter-Korean ties . [Arirang News]
What gets me is that the ROK authorities did not jail this Chinese fisherman, but instead just booked him and let him go:
This photo taken on June 24, 2016, shows a Chinese fishing boat at a port in Incheon, west of Seoul. The Coast Guard seized the boat the previous day that allegedly operated illegally near the inter-Korean maritime border. (Yonhap
The captain of a Chinese fishing boat was arrested on Friday over allegedly operating near the inter-Korean maritime border and using an illegal drug, the South Korean Coast Guard said.
Coast guard officers found methamphetamine inside the boat that they seized in waters off Socheong Island in Incheon, west of Seoul, the previous day.
On Thursday, they confiscated 0.12 gram of the drug and an inhaler from the ship’s pilothouse after taking it to a coast guard station in Incheon. During an investigation into the captain, whose name was withheld, the 48-year-old man confessed that he had bought them shortly before the boat left the port of Donggang in China’s Liaoning Province around 5 p.m. on June 9, they said.
The captain, who purchased the drug and the inhaler from an acquaintance for 240 yuan and 20 yuan respectively, is suspected of inhaling the stimulant three times when the boat sailed near the Northern Limit Line (NLL), the inter-Korean de facto western maritime border, this month.
He has also administered the drug about 10 times in China since last year, they said. “I used the drug in secret at the pilothouse to beat fatigue,” he was quoted as saying. He tested positive in a urine test for the drug.
The Coast Guard plans to book the Chinese man without physical detention on charges of suspected violation of the illegal fishing control law concerning South Korea’s exclusive economic zone. In addition, it will book him on suspicion of violating the drug control law. [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but I maintain that the ROK should jail these guys and auction off their boats. This would be needed to deterrent to stop the illegal fishing.
This announcement by North Korea makes it pretty clear that they are deliberately organizing the Chinese fishing boats to intrude into South Korea as a form of asymmetric warfare against the South:
A Chinese fishing boat escorted by a South Korean Coast Guard vessel enters the port of Incheon, west of Seoul, on June 15, 2016, after being seized by the military police team over illegal fishing in the neutral waters of the Han River estuary. (Yonhap)
North Korea on Monday slammed South Korea for its operation with the United Nations Command (UNC) to repel Chinese fishing boats operating illegally in neutral waters between the two Koreas, calling the move a “military provocation.”
This marks the North’s first official reaction to South Korea and the UNC’s joint crackdown on Chinese fishing vessels operating in the neutral waters of the Han River estuary.
Fishing vessels that are officially registered with either South or North Korea are allowed into the neutral waters. Each side could send military police officers into the no man’s land to enforce rules under the armistice agreement.
South Korea’s move is aimed at “escalating the intrusion into the hotspot waters in the West Sea of Korea into the inland to secure a chance for military provocation,” the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said in an English dispatch. [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but I continue to believe if the ROK seizes the illegal Chinese fishing boats and then auctions them off and gives jail time to the crew members that would end the incentive for these people to illegally fish in South Korean waters.
