The death of a South Korean coast guard, whose body was found in the sea a day after he went missing, has been blamed on Chinese fishermen, a report said yesterday.
The body of Park Kyong-jo, a 48-year-old sergeant, was retrieved near the southwestern island of Gageo-do on Friday, about 17 hours after he vanished, coast guard authorities said.
FOOTAGE
After analyzing coast guard video footage, officials said Park fell overboard after a Chinese sailor hit him on the head with a spade while he was boarding the Chinese boat, the national Yonhap news agency said.
A coast guard spokesman declined to comment on the report.
“We’re still questioning the Chinese crew members,” the spokesman said.
But he admitted that South Korean coast guard officers fear for their lives whenever they try to capture Chinese poaching vessels.
The Hankook Ilbo daily said the poachers usually put up fierce resistance to avoid capture, wielding sticks, metal pipe, iron chains, hammers and even makeshift spears.
AT RISK
“We have to put our own lives at risk to stop them. It’s like a war without guns for us,” Chung Tae-in, an officer with the Mokpo Coast guard, was quoted as telling the daily.
The spokesman said there were calls within the coast guard that officers should be allowed to open fire in such situations.
“Some officers say they should be allowed to open fire when they feel their lives being threatened.
But this is not a simple issue that can be decided by the coast guard alone because of possible diplomatic problems,” he said.
Park fell into the water late on Thursday when a group of coast guard officers tried to seize two Chinese boats fishing illegally off South Korea’s southwestern coast.
The boats fled the scene after their crew members, wielding iron pipes, spades and clubs, repelled the officers, coast guard authorities said.
One 45-tonne vessel with 11 Chinese fishermen aboard was captured on Friday after a 15-hour chase involving four planes and 15 boats.
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