DTN News - SOUTH KOREAN NEWS: South Korea Says 1 of 2 Coast Guard Officers Stabbed By Chinese Captain Dies
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada / SEOUL, South Korea - December 12, 2011: A Chinese fishing boat captain stabbed two South Korean coast guard officers Monday, killing one and injuring the other, after his boat was stopped for illegally fishing in South Korean waters, officials said.
The Chinese captain pulled an unidentified weapon after officers from two coast guard ships boarded the fishing boat over suspicions that it was illegally operating in Yellow
Sea waters rich in blue crabs, anchovies and croaker, coast guard spokesman Kim Dong-jin said.
A South Korean officer stabbed in the side was taken by helicopter to a hospital in the port city of Incheon but later died, Kim said. Also brought to the hospital were an officer stabbed in the abdomen, who was to undergo surgery, and the Chinese captain, who had minor injuries from the fight, he said.
South Korea’s Foreign Ministry summoned China’s ambassador in Seoul later Monday and lodged a strong protest over the fight. Foreign Ministry officials said they had asked the ambassador last Thursday to make efforts to prevent illegal Chinese fishing from undermining bilateral ties.
Last week, South Korean authorities also raised fines levied on foreign fishing vessels caught operating in Seoul’s self-declared exclusive economic zone, an apparent reflection of the government’s impatience with a rising number of Chinese boats found fishing in the waters.
“Eradicating Chinese boats’ illegal fishing in our waters is a most urgent task to safeguard our fishermen and fisheries resources,” South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said in a recent editorial. “The government should mobilize every possible means and continue the crackdown on illegal fishing.”
Monday’s fighting isn’t likely to undermine overall ties, although Seoul is expected to pressure Beijing harder over illegal fishing activities, said Lee Chang-hyung of Seoul’s government-affiliated Korea Institute for Defense Analyses.
