S. Korea to request resumption of commercial whaling: official

SEOUL, April 25 (Yonhap) -- South Korea is moving to ask the International
Whaling Commission (IWC) to resume limited commercial whaling, which was
discontinued in 1986, a government official said Saturday.
The move comes in response to local communities that engaged in commercial
whaling in the past and Japan's actions to ease the blanket anti-whaling ban to
allow "coastal" hunting.
"There have been steady calls by former whalers in Ulsan and the country's
southwestern regions saying it is becoming harder to ignore, especially since
Tokyo has started talks to change the current moratorium," an official from the
Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said.
He pointed out that in the case of South Korea, which shares the East Sea with
Japan, there is little room for Seoul not to allow its nationals to hunt for
whales if Japanese boats engage in commercial operations.
Tokyo has been aggressively lobbying small Pacific island countries and has
secured the backing of around 30 countries to demand negotiations on the whaling
ban. The country has hinted it may bolt from the IWC altogether if no discussion
takes place.
It has been engaged in talks to find a solution to the issue with the United
States, Australia and New Zealand, which have opposed whaling for the past few
years.
The official, who declined to be identified, added that the government made its
interest in commercial whaling known earlier in the year and will reaffirm its
stance in the general meeting of the IWC, scheduled for June.
"Despite such efforts, it may be years before commercial whaling is permitted
again since the country must provide scientific data on the number of whales
found near its shores," he said.
The data is needed to determine how many and what type of whales can be hunted
without endangering the overall stock.
Related to the need to collect exact data, the government has been conducting
research and gathering information on the 35 types of whales frequently seen in
its waters.
Experts said that despite the worldwide ban, Japan kills roughly 3,000 Antarctic
mink whales every year using a scientific research loophole in the IWC. Japanese
delegates at the international whaling committee have claimed for years that some
species no longer require protection, and that part of the profit gained from
whaling can be diverted to help the welfare of developing countries.
Besides Japan, Norway hunts several hundred whales a year, with Greenland and
Iceland allowed a small quota to meet the demand of locals who rely on whale meat
for protein in the winter months. South Korean fisherman accidentally catch a few
whales each year when they are entangled in fishing nets, but commercial whaling
is prohibited.
South Korea once had a thriving whaling industry, with Ulsan and Jangsaengpo
having been a forward base of operations from whalers from the U.S., Britain,
France and Russia in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
At at its peak, there were four whale meat processing plants in Jangsaengpo, with
the country having operated larger whaling ships than Japan at one time.
yonngong@yna.co.kr
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