UPDATE II
OhMyNews ran a rather interesting report last night that might help us understand some of the issues that were involved in this case. It would seem that last year, Tokyo informed Seoul that it had made a “blacklist” of 22 Korean fishing vessels that Japan claimed had violated Japan’s EEZ a combined total of 81 times last year. Most, like the Sinpung-ho, were eel trawlers. The vessels on the list would be subject to seizure if caught in Japan’s EEZ, regardless of whether they were illegally fishing or not. In fact, on May 14, a South Korean eel trawler was seized by the Japanese Coast Guard despite claims made by the vessel that it wasn’t actually fishing. Seoul, however, protested — and not without reason — that it was excessive to bust fishing vessels for simply entering Japan’s EEZ — which are not territorial waters — based on their past activity or circumstantial evidence.
OhMyNews pointed out that this year, six eel trawlers have been seized in Japan’s EEZ, although with the exception of the May 14 seizure, the others involved cases where the vessels were actually caught dropping their nets where they shouldn’t.
UPDATE:
YTN (Korean) has just reported that Korean and Japanese diplomats have worked out a resolution to the East Sea tug-of-war. The Koreans acknowledge that the problematic fishing boat was engaged in illegal activity in Japan’s EEZ, and the Japanese will immediately withdraw their Coast Guard patrol boats from the area.
ORIGINAL POST:
I was hoping to report a resolution to the tense “tug-of-war” between the Korean and Japanese coast guards in the East Sea, but I guess that won’t be the case:
ULSAN, South Korea, June 2 (Yonhap) — The tense standoff between patrol boats from South Korea and Japan continued for a second day on Thursday over the control of a South Korean fishing boat accused of violating Japanese economic waters.
Overnight negotiations failed to produce a breakthrough, and one coast guard boat from each side remained lashed to the 77-ton eel-fishing Sinpung-ho about 16 miles off Ulsan on South Korea’s southeast coast.
Hope both sides stocked up on the ramyeon before they left port. The Flying Yangban has some interesting commentary on the first day of this mess.
Reading the Dong-A Ilbo this morning, things might not be as bad as they appear. In particular, it would seem that at least at the governmental level, both sides realize the other has some valid points to make. The Korean government notes that both the fishing vessel and its captain are Korean, and the site of the confrontation is in the Korean EEZ, so regardless of whether you go by flag, nationality or location, Korea has jurisdiction over the boat. The Koreans also explain that it’s not clear that the boat was actually fishing illegally in Japan’s EEZ, and even if it was, it would now be up to the Korean government to punish the offender. Korea’s fishing laws dictate that Korean authorities can punish local fishermen who conduct illegal operations in foreign waters.
Seoul seems to recognize, however, that it was wrong for the boat to flee while carrying Japanese cops who were trying to seize the vessel in Japan’s EEZ. It also appears to acknowledge that Japan’s making an issue of illegal fishing in their EEZ — something Korea knows all about from the Chinese — and Japanese claims to the right of hot pursuit in an incident that started in their own EEZ are not entirely without basis.
Jeong Hae-woong, the chief of the Foreign Ministry’s treaty bureau, said the two nation’s jurisdictions clash in this case, and as there are no clear principles regarding this in international law, finding a legal solution won’t be easy.
The Dong-A pointed out that Seoul appears concerned that the issue might further entangle relations between Korea and Japan, and that Seoul’s expression of understanding concerning many of the measures Japan has taken so far in this incident is probably related to these concerns. Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon was also reportedly quite polite (which he usually is) when he met with Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Aisawa Ichiro and asked Japan to send its patrol boats back, explaining that if the fishing boat in question did something wrong, Seoul would take appropriate actions.
The Japanese, for their part, seem to be concerned about this incident causing undue stress on the bilateral relationship as well. Vice Foreign Minister Aisawa told Foreign Minister Ban that while he believed Japanese and international law called for the boat to be turned over to Japan, he would immediately report Ban’s comments to Tokyo and work toward a satisfactory resolution to the standoff.
Seoul officials also believe the Japanese might realistically want the boat as a security to ensure that fines are actually handed down.
Yonhap (Korean) also notes the tense but rather mature diplomatic activity going on in an effort to resolve this matter with as few bruised kibuns on both sides as possible. Interesting to note that a Korean official was quoted as saying Thursday that boat skipper Hwang Gap-sun — who claims he was mercilessly beaten by evil Japanese cops — was “talking nonsense” (and probably not from being beat about the noggin) and that the Japanese had presented “decisive evidence” that the good captain was engaging in illegal activity in Japan’s EEZ. The official said this made the situation easier to resolve.
12 Comments
“Fishing! Me, fishing!?! Who’s fishing here?!”
That is what it would sound like to me if a boat noted for illegal fishing were caught in the EEZ zone, but claimed it wasn’t fishing — whether I observed them drop their nets or found a catch on the boat or not.
If the captain of the fishing vessel were in his private yatch, fine. But just out sightseeing in a fishing boat?
Eel is good for “stamina.”
The issue has been resolved, with the Korean skipper admitting fault.
Back to our grilled eel.
“OhMyNews ran a rather interesting report last night that might help us understand some of the issues that were involved in this case. It would seem that last year, Tokyo informed Seoul that it had made a ?€œblacklist?€? of 22 Korean fishing vessels that Japan claimed had violated Japan?€™s EEZ a combined total of 81 times last year. Most, like the Sinpung-ho, were eel trawlers. The vessels on the list would be subject to seizure if caught in Japan?€™s EEZ, regardless of whether they were illegally fishing or not”
Leave it to OhmyNews to add some helpful and objective information to the issue and help understanding…. if true, this part:
“The vessels on the list would be subject to seizure if caught in Japan?€™s EEZ, regardless of whether they were illegally fishing or not”
Means that Japan was saying it would be acting illegally. Japan just doesn’t have the right to sieze ships that are in its EEZ but not in its territorial waters unless they are doing something illegal, so if it said it would sieze them regardless….
Japan has every right to sieze that boat if made a de facto violation of Japan’s EEZ, and the violation by definition would be illegal if it had been cited for illegal fishing in past. It’s in the UN convention on EEZs: “fixing quotas of catch, whether in relation to particular stocks or groups of stocks or catch per vessel over a period of time or to the catch by nationals of any State during a specified period.” The Korean gov’t shouldn’t make a big deal of this, because its been doing the same thing to Japanese fishermen for years.
I’d have to wait for a lawyer to give a definitive answer or someone quote more from the rules that apply…
but, I would think it screwy if a ship that has been documented as having broken the rules or laws of the area returns, it can’t be boarded unless it allows the ship to start breaking the law again — that it has to be caught red handed or not at all.
But, international treaties and conventions have a logic all their own frequently enough.
To me, regardless of the legal issues, I believe Korea picked a very bad way to handle the situation. Raise hell in the media. Hurt Japan by cancelling some inter-government meetings or something like that - a diplomatic tiff type move. Or, temporarily block some imports from Japan for some months, preferrably any trade in sea food.
Using brute force and a brute force confrontation isn’t the way I would have gone. It makes both nations look very petty and more so for the Koreans since their coast guard got involved second.
USinKorea, you are saying that Korea should have gone the emotional route on this one?
I was glad that it ended with the Korean skipper admitting fault. I was glad that people could see that not every Korea-versus-Japan issue has the Korean side in the right. I haven’t seen yet this morning how it is playing in the press, but I was glad to see that the Korean side seemed to give in because they knew the Korean skipper was in the wrong.
Mainichi Simbun http://www.mainichi-msn.co.jp/.....0000c.html
reported that Korean side demanded compensation and apology for the injured fisherman.
The fisherman
http://www.uploda.org/file/uporg117302.jpg
He looked his condition got worse while he was in hospital.
Who said SK and Japan can never have an armed conflict over Dokto? War can happen easily. Countries have fought over things cheaper than fish.
I was saying that if Korea wanted to do something about the issue against Japan, they should not have taken the direct physical confrontation route. A diplomatic, media, or limited, punitive trade smack would have been much, much more preferrable.
By this, I am taking it for granted Korea wanted to “make a statement” with its actions - that it wanted to react to Japan and the EEZ zone and fishing vessel issues.
I did not consider the “do nothing” approach at all, because it doesn’t seem like something Korea was considering. The reaction within Korea to the physical confrontation doesn’t seem, from what little I know, to have generated a “why did we feel the need to do anything” consideration of the event….
[...] Its an unsatisfactory conclusion to an unproductive situation: The standoff over the Shinpung-ho, a 77-t [...]