A Chinese fisherman was jailed for 30 years yesterday for murdering a South Korean coast guard officer during an operation to stop illegal fishing, Seoul court officials said.
Cheng Dawei (陳大為), a 43-year-old fishing boat skipper, was also fined 20 million won (US$17,500) by the court in the western port city of Incheon.
The skipper fatally stabbed one officer with a knife and seriously wounded another on Dec. 12 last year, after they boarded his boat inside South Korea’s exclusive economic zone in the Yellow Sea.
It was the second time a South Korean coast guard officer had died at the hands of Chinese fishermen in less than four years and the incident sparked widespread public anger.
Prosecutors had demanded the death penalty for Cheng.
“One coast guard member was killed and another was seriously wounded, causing great shock and distress not only to their relatives but the Korean people as a whole,” the court said in its judgment. “Stern punishment is inevitable in order to prevent any recurrence.”
The judges said Cheng regretted his actions and had compensated the victim’s relatives “but he must take heavy responsibility for killing an officer and seriously injuring another.”
Nine other Chinese crewmembers were sentenced to jail terms ranging from 18 months to five years for obstructing the coast guard raid, in addition to fines of between 10 to 20 million won.
In related news, Japan’s coast guard yesterday arrested two Chinese after a collision on Sunday between their cargo vessel and a fishing boat that left the 76-year-old Japanese fishing boat skipper dead and his son missing.
Lin Shi, 29, and Wang Qing Lin, 22, were taken to a coast guard facility in Ishikawa Prefecture, about 300km northwest of Tokyo, a coast guard official said.
The two men, crew on the 9,800-tonne Yong Cai, were arrested over the incident on Sunday in the Sea of Japan in which their vessel collided with the fishing boat Daini Shinyo Maru.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese