Chinese fishing boats carrying deadly weapons to ward off cops

Chinese fishing boats are known to carry deadly weapons and tools for use in resisting arrest by the Korea Coast Guard when they illegally fish in Korean waters.

They enter Korean waters after arming themselves like pirates to prepare for patrols by Korean maritime police. If apprehended, they face seizure of their catch and up to 100 million won (86,655 U.S. dollars) to bail themselves out. They illegally fish and risk a combat-like struggle with the Korea Coast Guard.

The 66-ton class Chinese fishing boat was captured and taken to the Korea Coast Guard`s Incheon headquarters early Tuesday. The vessel was carrying a collection of deadly weapons including wooden swords measuring more than 6 meters, hand axes, sickles, hooks, shovels, iron pipes and glass bottles intended for use against maritime police.

All the fishermen, for whom arrest warrants have been sought, confessed to preparing the weapons when they loaded oil, drinking water and food before setting sail.

Chinese fishing boats that enter Korea’s exclusive economic zone in the Yellow Sea depart mostly from ports in Liaoning and Shandong provinces. Most of the vessels carry deadly weapons for use in resisting a police crackdown.

An investigation has found that Cpl. Lee Cheong-ho was stabbed to death Monday with a knife hidden in the skipper room by the captain of the Chinese fishing boat. This shows that the captain and his crew prepared themselves to resist arrest. The incident apparently resulted from the prevailing belief among Chinese fishermen that they will lose everything if caught.

Wooden swords, hand axes, sickles and iron pipes seized on the Chinese boat are commonly found in Chinese fishing boats captured by Korean maritime police. One classical strategy is for a group of 20 boats to tie each other with ropes to form a large fleet to jointly avert capture by the Korea Coast Guard.

Chinese fishermen have recently piled up heavy lead hanging on fishing net to lower the net into the sea, and sometimes throw them at maritime police pursuing them. A patrol officer trying to capture them who is hit by the lead could suffer severe injury or even die.

Chinese fishing boats also carry grid-shaped nets 1 to 2 meters in height made by tightly weaving iron wire. In the past, they used to attach sharp steel sticks at the stern and bow to block maritime police speedboats loaded with commandos from approaching their boats. Now, however, they install wire net around their boats and seal them off to prevent maritime police from getting onboard.

Jeong Tae-gyeong, chief of the defense division at the Korea Coast Guard’s Incheon headquarters, said, “We`ve developed high-tech suppression equipment, such as water guns with liquefied tear gas, and load them onto speedboats. But as Chinese fishermen have even brandished deadly weapons at risk to their own lives, our officers often suffered injury.”

"We are considering measures to completely incapacitate Chinese fishermen from attempting to resist, including the use of guns."

kchwang@donga.com