All 29 Chinese fishermen reportedly kidnapped by armed North Koreans earlier this month have returned home after they were freed on the weekend, Xinhua news agency said yesterday.
The men were snatched by a group of unidentified gunmen as they fished in waters running between China and North Korea on May 8, and held for 13 days, according to earlier reports and witness accounts.
It remains unclear who was behind the rare abductions. Xinhua said that no ransom had been paid and the men were released after “diplomatic exchanges” between Pyongyang and Beijing.
The state-run Global Times daily urged Pyongyang to clear up the question of who was responsible for the kidnapping, saying China would not tolerate “any misbehavior by North Korea.”
It quoted residents of the port city of Dalian, where the victims were from, as saying North Korean coastguards had captured fishing boats and stolen fuel and other items on board in the past.
“North Korea should respect China’s every concrete interest, especially the lives and property of Chinese citizens,” the paper said in an editorial.
“More details should be disclosed regarding who was really behind the abduction and the conditions of release,” it added.
The China Daily newspaper also said no ransom was paid for the men’s release, although earlier reports said their captors had demanded money for their return.
China is North Korea’s key source of economic support, but Beijing has appeared at a loss as to how to rein in recent provocative behavior by the isolated state.
The incident came after Beijing criticized a recent North Korean rocket launch and expressed concern over a nuclear weapons test reportedly being readied by the isolated nation.
Chinese fishermen regularly run into difficulties with the authorities of other countries as they fish in areas claimed by China and its neighbors.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not