S Korea sends military to repel Chinese vessels

[yuiyoshida]

South Korea yesterday sent military vessels to repel Chinese fishing boats that were illegally harvesting prized blue crabs near the disputed sea boundary between North Korea and South Korea before the fishermen retreated, South Korean officials said.

Four naval and marine boats entered neutral waters around South Korea’s Ganghwa Island to chase away about 10 Chinese boats, which by afternoon had moved into North Korea-controlled waters, said a South Korean Ministry of National Defense official, who did not want to be named, citing office rules.

The operation was approved by the UN Command that governs the zone where fishing activity is prohibited.

Depending on weather and water conditions, the operation is to resume today and continue until the Chinese boats withdraw further, the official said. The South Korean military and maritime police personnel who carried out the mission were accompanied by translators and two monitors from UN Command.

“United Nations Command takes its responsibility to maintain the armistice very seriously. We had a responsibility to act and we are doing that,” General Vincent Brooks, the US commander of the UN Command, said in a statement on the decision to authorize the operation.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2016/06/11/2003648342