S. Korea protests Japan`s inspection of fishing boat

SEOUL, Nov. 7 (Yonhap) -- South Korea lodged an official protest against Japan Friday for unwarranted inspection of a fishing boat that was operating in waters between the two countries earlier in the year.

The Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said in a meeting of
working level fisheries officials in Seoul that Japan should take steps to
prevent a recurrence of actions carried out by its Maritime Safety Agency when it
inspected a South Korean fishing boat.
It said inspectors that boarded the Sejin 97 blocked communication and claimed
the ship had crossed over into Japan's exclusive economic zone when in fact it
had not.
"South Korea called on Japan to make certain that such developments do not happen
again, while Tokyo expressed regret over the incident," a spokesperson said.
South Korean Coast Guard vessels and their Japanese counterparts faced off for
over six hours 27 kilometers south of Hong Island in South Gyeongsang Province on
May 16.
A joint probe of the vessel's global positioning system (GPS) confirmed that it
had stayed within the territorial waters of South Korea's EEZ.
Japanese working levels officials, meanwhile, said at a meeting held in Seoul
that some South Korean boats kept improper logs of their operations and sometimes
delete the history of their movements from GPS systems, making confirmation
difficult.
The two sides also touched on more efficient ways to maintain fisheries resources
and agreed to work more closely in assisting fishing operations by boats from the
two countries.
yonngong@yna.co.kr
(END)