Illegally fishing in North Korean waters is apparently a much different experience:
A Chinese fishing boat was allegedly shelled by the North Korean Coastguard over the weekend, leaving its 44-year-old skipper seriously injured, the South Korea Coastguard said Monday.
The vessel came under fire at around 9:40 a.m., Saturday. The skipper, identified only as Kung, collapsed following the shooting and is currently hospitalized at Inha University in Incheon.
The accident came only a day after a bloody clash between South Korean coastguards and illegal Chinese fishermen which claimed the life of one Korean.
It is still unknown whether the Chinese boat was operating in S. Korea’s exclusively economic zone.
“It’s still unknown whether the boat was attacked in South Korean or North Korean waters,” said a defense military official. “North Korean coastguards often fire at Chinese boats trespassing in North Korean waters.”
I’d like to think the North Koreans were just taking my advice.
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North and South unified against a common threat . . . a movie scenario maybe with a pinch of reality?
Common threat…china? No way. The China market’s too big and repercussions too many for Korea to want to piss off China.
North and South Korea unified against a common threat, though. . . I like that. I predict a comedy about North and South uniting to defend Dokdo from dirty Japanese textbook writers and their history-distorting agendas.
(and somewhere another comfort woman dies without peace)
@roboseyo
I thought they already released 한반도 in theaters.
2/robseyo” I usually agree with you but the passing comment about the comfort women is begging for some response. I tire of people thinking that Japan has never acknowledged the comfort women… unfortunately, in a roundabout way, they have…
The Republic of Korea agreed to a sum of money and wrote off any chance of further reparations sometime in the 60s during normalization of relations with Japan. Park Chung Hee’s government, if I’m not mistaken?
I wish I could cite my source but when I mention it to Koreans, they usually state that the reparation money was used to push Korea towards rapid industrialization.
Here’s Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T.....c_of_Korea
North Korea *finally* does something right – and freakin’ awesome.
Simply breaking nuclear promises is pretty lame… but righteously attacking ships, I can respect that.
These Chinese fishing ships are entering Korean waters against restrictions in place by the Chinese government. These fisherman in no way represent the nation of China. The number of these illegal trawlers has been reduced due to China’s intervention in recent months. Pause for a moment and consider what China’s central government is up against in terms of controlling activities of more than a billion people, 75% of them uneducated and with little to lose. Just like the handfull of crazy kids at the Seoul Olympic torch event, these are the actions of individuals who happen to be from China.
Meanwhile, I guess there are benefits to living next door to the Bernard Getz of North East Asia… they’ll think twice before fishing Chosun waters.
Vince, ignorance of the law is not an acceptable defense. Fisherman knows their trade and when they’re breaking the law. These men knew fully well that they were fishing illegally and did so for economic gain.
China’s coast guard service is pitifully small, an issue that is being slowly addressed. But that doesn’t excuse its citizens, or citizens from any other country from poaching.
“Large fish” stocks, such as blue fin tuna, has declined (global average) by 90% since 1950. Fish stocks have already collapsed in 1/3rd of the sea fisheries, and at current unsustainable rate the rest will collapse by 2050.
It’s time for the coastal nations to get serious about protecting their marine resource. Bans on commercial fishing of cod, tuna, etc. should be imposed for a number of years and enforced by coast guard gun barrels.
#7,
So, it’s okay if the Canadian Coast Guard starts firing on the many American boats fishing illegally within the Canadian waters?
@8
Probably ok. I don’t think their slingshots will do much damage anyways.
”the Bernard Getz of North East Asia”
It works.
Bernard Getz is not so bad a fellow as to justify such a comparison though.
How about just describing them as “gang bangers” instead?
8/9: The Canadian Coast Guard and the Navy patrol the 200 mile limit together. Ships caught illegally within that line are confiscated while looking down the mouth of a cannon. I’m from Halifax, and I remember many times watching yet another Spanish trawler being confiscated and put up for auction by the authorities. The Spanish crew were usually given light prison sentences, the captain fined, and all deported once the fine was paid… the Spanish learned their lesson quickly.
#12,
Yeah, forgot about that. Unlike in the US, the Canadian Coast Guard is civilian.
Bipolar: I’m happy to have people inform me on issues; I haven’t dug very deep into the comfort women topic myself, frankly. The comment was mostly just a toss-off comment that, IF Koreans MUST get worked up about something, between sex-slavery and a couple of useless rocks (to say nothing of crimes against humanity being committed by its closest neighbour to the north, unsafe food being imported from its largest neighbour, etc.), Dokdo seems to me like a serious misallocation of outrage.
anyway, have a good one and enjoy the autumn weather!
12,
I know. I am Canadian – just poking a little fun at the stereotype.
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