Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




NUKEWARS
Seoul warns of tougher coast guard patrols
by Staff Writers
Seoul (UPI) Dec 14, 2011


disclaimer: image is for illustration purposes only

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak called for "strong" measures to protect the country's coast guard sailors during the crackdown on illegal fishing by Chinese boats.

This could mean more equipment and personnel are allocated to the coast guard service so there is no repeat of the fatal attack on two sailors during a raid on a Chinese boat suspected of fishing illegally in South Korean waters.

Coast Guard officer Lee Cheong-ho, 41, was allegedly stabbed by the captain of the Chinese fishing boat and died shortly after in hospital. Another coast guard member was stabbed but his condition isn't life-threatening, a report by the South Korean news agency Yonhap said.

The confrontation between the coast guard and Chinese fishing vessel was one of the most difficult in years, said the team that boarded the ship, a report in Joongang Daily said.

"It was the strongest resistance ever," Kang Hee-soo, a member of the SWAT team involved in the boarding, said. "I think our government needs to handle illegal fishing more decisively. We need to expand the number of officers and must not hesitate to use firearms if the resistance is violent in order to stop more Korean deaths from happening."

"When the team approached the vessel, the Chinese resisted aggressively, throwing empty beer bottles and fishing gear," Park Seong-gu, another SWAT team member, said. "When we got onto the vessel, the Chinese sailors became more aggressive, started using bamboo spears and long shovels, which seemed to be refurbished for attacking."

China formally apologized for the affair after its ambassador was summoned by the South Korean government. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin expressed "regret" over the killing, calling it an "unfortunate event," Yonhap reported.

But the incident, which happened this week about 100 miles west of Incheon, South Korea, further bruised relations between Seoul and Beijing, already strained over Chinese activity within what Seoul claims as its territorial waters in the South China Sea.

Lee's spokesman, Park Jeong-ha, said the president wants to establish "fundamental" and "diplomatic" measures to crack down on Chinese vessels that are increasingly poaching in South Korea's exclusive economic maritime zone.

This could mean more ships and officers going on more frequent patrols, Park said.

"The government is calling on the Chinese government to take measures that would be acceptable to our people to prevent such an incident from happening again," Seoul's foreign ministry spokesman Cho Byung-jae said.

Coast guard officials have detained all nine sailors on board the Chinese vessel, including the captain, at Incheon where they are being questioned, Yonhap said.

The Chinese captain could face charges around the killing of the South Korean officer and the eight sailors may face charges of obstructing government officials, the report said.

Yonhap also reported around 300 people gathered outside the Chinese Embassy in Seoul. Protesters threw eggs at the embassy and tried to burn a Chinese flag before minor scuffles with riot police, who broke up the group.

The fishing vessel incident is the latest in a growing number of maritime disputes, mostly territorial, between China and its South China Sea neighbors.

In July, China signed an agreement with the Association of South East Asian Nations to move toward peaceful resolutions of the disputes.

But the deal was notable for its lack of detail, said analysts. Beijing, which is beefing up its maritime patrols, lays claim to many of the South China Sea's large island groupings, even those much closer to the shores of the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Vietnam than China.

The Spratly Islands -- the largest group -- lie off the southwest coast of the Philippines as well as Brunei and Malaysia. Ownership of the Spratly Islands is the most difficult of all the territorial claims because of the number of claimants, including Vietnam and Taiwan.

Further north, off the west coast of the Philippines, lies the Scarborough Shoal, disputed between China and the Philippines. Meanwhile, Vietnam and China are fighting for sovereignty over the Paracels, a group of islands south of China's Hainan Island province and off the east coast of Vietnam.

.


Related Links
Learn about nuclear weapons doctrine and defense at SpaceWar.com
Learn about missile defense at SpaceWar.com
All about missiles at SpaceWar.com
Learn about the Superpowers of the 21st Century at SpaceWar.com






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








NUKEWARS
S. Korea mourns coastguard killed in Chinese attack
Seoul (AFP) Dec 14, 2011
A group of South Korean lawmakers demanded tougher punishment for illegal Chinese fishermen as the country Wednesday mourned a coastguard officer killed while trying to arrest an offender. The officer was fatally stabbed and a colleague wounded as they attempted Monday to detain the skipper of a Chinese boat in the rich fishing grounds of the Yellow Sea. The incident - the second time ... read more


NUKEWARS
Peres promotes Israeli moon probe

Hundreds of NASA's moon rocks missing: audit

Schafer Corp Signs Licensing Agreement with MoonDust Technologies

Russia wants to focus on Moon if Mars mission fails

NUKEWARS
Preparing for human exploration of Mars by measuring background radiation

Mars-Bound Rover Begins Research in Space

Phobos-Grunt mission now impossible says chief designer

In Search Of A Wet Warm Life Filled Mars

NUKEWARS
Russian who helped put Gagarin in space dies at 99

Voyager spacecraft that toured outer planets nearing solar system edge

NASA seeking astronaut candidates

TASC Wins $133.9 Million NASA Contract

NUKEWARS
Two and a Half Men for Shenzhou

China honors its 'father' of space efforts

Philatelic Cover Reveals the secret names of second Taikonaut team

First Crew for Tiangong

NUKEWARS
ESA astronaut Andre Kuipers Ready For Launch To ISS

Astronaut TJ Creamer Learns Space Station Science From the Ground Up

FLEX-ible Insight Into Flame Behavior

Growing Knowledge in Space

NUKEWARS
Orbital Selects Antares as Permanent Name For New Rocket Based On Taurus II Program

Arianespace selected to launch MEASAT-3b

AMOS-5 Communications Satellite Successfully Launched

Second Arianespace Soyuz rolled out for launch at Spaceport Kourou

NUKEWARS
Giant Super-Earths Made Of Diamond Are Possible

New Planet Kepler-21b discovery a partnership of both space and ground-based observations

Astronomers Find Goldilocks Planet and Others

The Habitable Exoplanets Catalog, a new online database of habitable worlds

NUKEWARS
Model shows how facade pollutants make it into the environment

Kindle Fire software update on the way

Zeolite synthesis made easy Possible applications in chemistry and industry

Researchers find best routes to self-assembling 3D shapes




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement