By Here is an update on the Chinese fishing boats that continue to violate South Korean waters that is getting worse every year:
Some 294 Chinese fishing boats and 2,905 Chinese fishermen have been caught so far this year illegally fishing in Korean territorial waters.
The number of Chinese trawlers caught illegally fishing in Korea’s Exclusive Economic Zone rose from 79 in 2007 to 91 last year, while the number of Chinese boats that trespassed into Korean territorial waters almost doubled from 27 to 53 over the same period.
Chinese fishermen are becoming increasingly brazen in their methods, and the scale of their activities is expanding. In the past, Chinese trawlers would only fish on foggy days or at night and slink away at daybreak. But these days they group together with ropes to create small armadas and resist arrest by using violence, or gang up against police wielding makeshift weapons. [Chosun Ilbo]
ROK-Heads may remember the violent incidents these Chinese fishermen have caused when the Korean Coast Guard tries to take them into custody to include murdering one Coast Guard officer. The violence has continued as recently 5 more Coast Guard personnel were injured by the Chinese fishermen:
Five Korea Coast Guard (KCG) officers sustained injuries while rounding up Chinese fishing boats illegally operating in South Korean waters Saturday, according to the KCG Sunday.
This is the latest in a series of recent incidents in which officers enforcing the law were injured by violent Chinese fishermen. There have been growing calls for the Korean government to take a tougher stance against these trawlers unlawfully fishing in the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
According to the Jeju Coast Guard, a 1,500-ton patrol vessel seized a Chinese boat illegally fishing in the waters 12 kilometers northwest of the resort island at 4:25 a.m. Saturday. While towing the trawler to Jeju, about 25 Chinese boats illegally operating in nearby waters approached the ship and demanded the release of the captured trawler.
Soon after the patrol vessel called for reinforcements, 12 more Coast Guard vessels and two helicopters arrived at the scene and began rounding up the Chinese trawlers. Two more Chinese boats were captured but in the process, five officers were wounded by sailors resisting arrest with sharp objects. It is unknown how many Chinese fishermen were taken into custody. [Korea Times]
You can read the rest at the link but these Chinese fishermen are even being caught in the East Sea now and are active in sabotaging the nets and intimidating South Korean fishermen. Well now the Coast Guard has launched a new campaign to crackdown on the illegal fishing boats:
Stick-wielding Chinese fishermen illegally working in South Korean waters tried to evade arrest – by using rope to band their boats together.
The dramatic scenes unfurled on the Yellow Sea, off the South Korean coast near the south western city of Buan, during a three-day crackdown on illegal trawling in the area.
South Korea’s coastguard mobilised 12 ships, four helicopters and an elite team of armed soldiers to raid 10 boats. [Daily Mail]
When these Chinese fishermen are detained they are let go after paying a $27,000 fine. I still think they should confiscate their boats and send the fishermen back to China. They won’t be doing any illegal fishing any more if they don’t have a boat to fish with.
She hasn’t seen...
6:47 pm on November 21st, 2011 1
That’s why current South Korean President is so wildly UNpopular with the SK Citizens… He is suppose to be the conservative, tough guy who says he is but he is only full of air.. He never served in the military, doesn’t have the balls to do anything…He BSd he’s way to the South Korean Presidency..
MB said he’d donate he’s entire private asset to society… he did by setting up an estate in his name… no no… MB we’re watching you…
7:45 pm on November 21st, 2011 2
He’s a chicken Chickenhawk?
8:19 pm on November 21st, 2011 3
Like I said, scuttle every single illegal fishing boat. Deport the fishers back to China via ferry. Put grenade launchers on each of the coast guard vessels, if a Chinese fishing boat tries to resist, launch a grenade or two at it. You only need to do this once or twice before the rest figure out that it’s not smart to be violent against a nations military force.
The Coast Guard is part of their Military just it is part of ours. Time for them to stop p*ssy footing around.
8:34 pm on November 21st, 2011 4
The South has submarines. Sink the Chinese boats and blame it on the norK’s. After all, they have a recent record of doing such things.
8:46 pm on November 21st, 2011 5
#3,
One can only dream that they would be allowed something more intimidating and lethal than billy clubs and rubber swords.
PS. We don’t pussy foot around in Canada.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turbot_War
8:50 pm on November 21st, 2011 6
#3,4
If only the government wasn’t tying their hands behind their backs. Billy clubs and rubber swords, really?
PS. This is how we handle these things in Canada:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turbot_War
9:23 pm on November 21st, 2011 7
As I said … a few grenades off a M203 would render this dispute moot. Blow up / severely damage a few boats and the rest won’t go near your territory.
9:30 pm on November 21st, 2011 8
Someotherguy,
Doublecheck that.
I believe the coast guard is a division of the national police rather than the military.
9:33 pm on November 21st, 2011 9
I Like Leons’ idea, use submarines to sink the fishing boats….
11:03 pm on November 21st, 2011 10
Jam the propellers and leave them to drift.
11:24 pm on November 21st, 2011 11
@7,
A proper coast guard is a division of whatever maritime military that nation has, typically Navy.
This is necessary as the police force has a different focus and mission then a military force. Police keep the police and enforce domestic laws, a military protects a nation from invasion and exercised that nations external power. The whole purpose of a coast guard is to defend a nations territorial waters from foreign aggressors.
Now whether Korea’s coast guard is a proper one, or just a police force in boats, I do not know. Different nations like to treat this function differently. Most nations have it as a police force, but seeing as SK has a very hostile and aggressive northern neighbor their should be part of their military branch as there is an extremely high chance of them being required to fight and defense SK’s coast line should a war break out.
11:48 pm on November 21st, 2011 12
10. What was the US Coast Guard? They were not DoD, they fell under the Department of Transportation. I believe they are now under DHS. Both cases align them more with civilian police than military, even though they do deploy to war zones.
Anyhoo, any country which cannot protect its borders and sea lanes cannot truly maintain its sovereignty and doesn’t deserve… check that, I just remembered I’m from the US.
1:16 am on November 22nd, 2011 13
With a quick google search, the question is solved.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Korea_Coast_Guard
1:32 am on November 22nd, 2011 14
11,
US Coast guard is part of DoD during wartime and part of DHS under peace time but still funded by DoD. Their considered one of the branch’s of the military.
1:36 am on November 22nd, 2011 15
“The Korea Coast Guard (Korean Hangul: 해양경찰청, Hanja: 海洋警察廳, Revised Romanization: Haeyang-gyeongchal-cheong, National Maritime Police Agency) is responsible for maritime safety and control off the coast of South Korea. The KCG is an external branch of Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs at peacetime. Recently, with continuous border crossings by Chinese watercraft, the Korean Coast Guard has deployed a significant number of heavy vessels to the Yellow Sea. As of July, 2009, the KCG has 7,696 people (officers and technical operators) under its disposal.”
Under 8000 people, that’s incredibly small. Need to ask a friend to look it up in Korean, but what command does it fall under during wartime operations?
After reading on it, it really just seems to be the water police. Which explains their rather weak response to invading Chinese fisherman.
3:29 am on November 22nd, 2011 16
Maybe the ROK Navy could support the Coast Guard.
5:15 am on November 22nd, 2011 17
#16,
If they aren’t they should mount a major operation…Then again, the government is obviously afraid of the Chinese government’s reaction since it’s got the Coast Guard armed with billy clubs and rubber swords.
12:47 pm on November 22nd, 2011 18
Coast Guard’s are usually the smallest military force a country has. The New York City Police force has more personnel than the US Coast Guard. They were originally under the Dept. of Treasury where the vessels were called revenue cutters and enforced tarrifs. The ships of the USCG are stilled referred to as cutters. The CG was transferred to the Dept. of Transportation, and then appointed the lead agency in DHS after 9/11. I’m an Army vet, but I did 20 years as a corpsman in the CG Reserves too. The mission is much different than the other services, but it is an outstanding organization. Knowing what I know now, I would have initially joined the CG.
What I don’t understand is why are the SK coasties getting close enough to the trawlers to get killed or wounded? Why not just lay off a few hundred yards, tell them to stop and be prepared to be boarded, and then send a shell into their rudder when they ignore them? At least get longer batons
Why not use pepper spray or have their ships outfitted with those microwave devices that make you feel like you’re on fire? I think mixing pepper spray in with the fire fighting foam and sprayed downwind with a fire hose would send them home quickly. It would be a non lethal way of inflicting a “game over” solution.
4:17 pm on November 22nd, 2011 19
When I formulated the Glans Plan for Korea, I simply assumed that Korea would defend its territory, including its territorial waters, including its exclusive economic zone. Did I make a foolish mistake? This would be the first time!
6:04 pm on November 22nd, 2011 20
What about getting the Whale Wars crew over to Korea to hassle Chinese fishing boats.
That would be some interesting TV.
Although the Chinese are not as reserved as the Japanese and might give ‘em the whammy.
…which would make for even MORE interesting TV.
7:38 pm on November 22nd, 2011 21
21. Two birds with one stone! The perfect storm so to speak.
4:39 am on November 24th, 2011 22
On Chinese Internet portals up and down the coast, Chinese netizens are dismissing this by saying, “the Koreans claim they invented fishing.”
8:06 am on November 24th, 2011 23
#22,
If that’s true, then that doesn’t surprise me. The CCP even has people spreading propaganda in the comments section at CNN.com.
9:07 am on November 24th, 2011 24
“the Koreans claim they invented fishing.”
That’s not entirely true.
The Koreans actually invented “pishing”…
…in which the goal is to catch anything moving and call it a “numba won beddy, beddy, beeg pishie” while covering the shore with soju bottles, raman cups, cigarette butts, and plastic packaging from 50 assorted lures on 6 different poles.
I have no idea what it all means… but it appears to be different than fishing.
9:53 am on November 24th, 2011 25
My apologies for not using a winky emoticon. That was meant as a dig at the Chinese netizenry that widely believes — in earnest — that Koreans are running around claiming all manner of Chinese things as originally Korean, from Confucius to Chinese characters to Chinese medicine. These are based on deliberate (and often elaborate) spreading of falsehoods.
The upshot is that it becomes (a) a tool for the authorities to manipulate public opinion (they do something similar with anti-American, anti-Japanese, or anti-French sentiment), (b) a mental means by which the Chinese can ignore or downplay the egregious acts of their countrymen in, against, or toward Korea.
11:37 pm on December 1st, 2011 26
I am a teacher in China. My students always get very riled up about these matters–they cry ‘fight, fight, fight’ in class. As far as the Japanese go, they just want to kill them all and quote ‘rape their grandmothers,’ according to emails I have received from students. I have found that when it comes to Taiwan, Japan, Korea, TB, the East China Sea and the South China Sea, they cannot under any circumstances come to a compromise over the matters in their mind–they are simply right, and everyone is simply wrong (they being the Chinese. IN six years I’ve observed that most Chinese find it impossible to ever compromise in any situation, or disagreement. They will never give in their goal, no matter how wrong, misguided, or pathetic and disgusting. In this way it reminds me of ‘stay the course.’ This can only apply, if it is moral and just and necessary. Anyway, they refuse to look at the issues and have a civil discussion. Even in class. They get angry if they are forced to re think the things they think they think about but never really think about. That is true of a lot of people, even Americans, and especially people with vested interests in situation, or outcome–the status quota will never relinquish power–right and wrong doesn’t come into play. We see this with our own governments, with our foreign policies. The American military is a good example of these vested interests that sometimes refuse to listen to reason, and they do not want to. (I was navy.) Wiser heads should prevail but never do.
11:38 pm on December 1st, 2011 27
When I suggest peaceful, beneficial solutions to these problems my Chinese students reject them out of hand, and become belligerent. So do Americans. But in this case, the Chinese are wrong, and often belligerent and pushy. It seems to me, in these fisheries in and around disputed waters, pride needs to give way to harmony and friendship–it’s not that hard for an evolved person or society. For instance, you could share the waters equally, but probably not. You could divide the waters along a border which many cases seems quite easy–the islands draw a neat border between Korea and Japan and China simply doesn’t belong in those waters period–they should be back in the Yellow and the Bohai. The island in question near Taiwan and south of Okinawa seems to me, clearly in the territorial waters of the sovereign nation of Taiwan. Japan should relinquish pride and obey International agreements. In the north, the island and the waters in question around Korea are clearly Korean territorial waters. Japan should respect that as a friendly neighbor–or they could initiate co-operative fishing programs. China should go home.
11:39 pm on December 1st, 2011 28
However, in more ambiguous waters, wherever it is in the world, they could alternate fishing days–Korea today, China tomorrow, on an odd, even schedule. I think the best solution however, is to make these disputed waters ‘protected zones’–ban fishing completely. Let the fish flourish and repopulate. Let the ecosystem recover. The oceans are dying. We need to stop acting like undereducated inbred children and start working together. Pride kills. We have one planet. One source of life in the universe, and we race to destroy it. Protect disputed waters–make them sacred zones–like parkland–water parks. Leave them pristine. Limit transit. These would act as buffer zones–where the oceans creatures could seek refuge and flourish, re-populating the world’s oceans. Protect it and they will come. The seas are overfished. My students just want to fight. They hate my ideas.
11:39 pm on December 1st, 2011 29
China has an expansion policy. They are going door to door, talking to people about the importance of the military–a widespread recruiting and propaganda campaign. They have 1.7 billion people that need to eat, rapaciously devour resources, and a culture of self-absorption, selfishness, and stubbornness. They can not lose face, no matter what. They can not lose, or give in on any level, no matter what. They have a culture of deceit–the art of war. But I still think negotiations with civil discussion, and not warships could make them see the light. Nevertheless, the Korean squids need to use powerful presence and occasional threat of powerful force to deter future transgressions. If the waters are protected, all nations in the region could create a joint task force to patrol the protected waters. The fisherman would stay out. I believe the Chinese government is encouraging the fisherman in instigating these incursions, flexing muscles, in an effort to dominate the Eastern seas. America used the Monroe Doctrine. We used a fledgling navy to intimidate Europeans around South America. China sent its navy to Somalia to implement force against the pirate while we all stood idly by. America took a similar action against the Barbados pirates–in a demonstration to the world that we a rising power that can not be underestimated. China is using the same tactics. They know our history, and often emulate America. They have ambition.
11:47 pm on December 1st, 2011 30
I was interested to read the comment above about the litter on the coasts. I thought the excessive littering problem was Chinese thing. China is like one giant landfill–they live in their trash. Do Koreans respect the community more? Do Koreans have a littering problem?
11:51 pm on December 1st, 2011 31
@Kushibo:”On Chinese Internet portals up and down the coast, Chinese netizens are dismissing this by saying, “the Koreans claim they invented fishing.”
They use this kind of irrational logical fallacy a lot. These non-arguments. It means something to them. It baffles me. They totally deflect the issue.