Chinese man arrested for sneaking into Incheon offshore on jet ski

A Chinese man in his 30s has been arrested for trying to sneak into South Korea from China by driving a jet ski into the waters off the coast of Incheon. The Chinese man was found to have traveled about 300 kilometers across the sea while refueling with five oil canisters.

The Incheon Coast Guard Station of the Korea Coast Guard announced Sunday that it has detained a male Chinese national in his 30s, on suspicion of violating the Immigration Control Act.

According to the Korea Coast Guard, the man departed from the Shandong region of China on an 1800cc jet ski on Wednesday last week. He filled up the tank on the jet ski with 70 liters of fuel and prepared five 25-liter oil canisters separately, tied together with ropes. He traveled about 300 kilometers by refueling the jet ski by himself on the sea and dumped the empty canisters into the sea.

At around 8 p.m. on Wednesday, the South Korean military authority spotted the jet ski with the man on board as an unidentified vessel and began tracking it. At around 9:23 p.m., the military realized the jet ski was stuck in the tidal flats near the Incheon Port Cruise Terminal in Yeonsu-gu, Incheon, and notified the Korea Coast Guard. At 9:33 p.m., the man, who was stuck in the mudflats and had difficulty moving, called firefighters to rescue him, and at 10:28 p.m., he was rescued by the coast guard.

"After initially identifying the approach of the jet ski with our surveillance equipment, the military continuously tracked and monitored it before detaining the man," the military authority said, adding, "Our joint investigation has found that there is no suspicion about the possibility of spying activities."


Jun-Ho Cha run-juno@donga.com