(2nd LD) Coast Guard officers beaten, held captive by Chinese crew

MOKPO, South Korea, Sept. 30 (Yonhap) -- Four South Korean Coast Guard officers had been captured and assaulted by Chinese fisherman just two days before another one was killed during a boarding operation, authorities here said Tuesday.

The Mokpo Coast Guard confirmed that the officers were captured and severely
beaten by the crew of a Chinese boat that was suspected of fishing in South
Korea's exclusive economic zone (EEZ) without a permit.
The incident took place on Sept. 23, when a speedboat carrying 10 officers left
the 3,000-ton cutter to check a suspicious fishing vessel near Gageo Island in
the Yellow Sea, it said.
Four officers, including Kim Kyung-soo and Kim Byung-seon, boarded the vessel and
started inspecting papers and the hold when the crew disregarded orders and
sailed away from the cutter. Soon the boat was joined by a large fish cargo ship
and 50 other Chinese boats in the vicinity.
About 20 crewmembers from the cargo ship, armed with steel pipes, quickly took
control of the fishing vessel being inspected, beating the officers who remained
in captivity for about an hour before the Koreans returned the captain of the
Chinese fishing boat, who had been taken to the Coast Guard cutter via speedboat.
After the "hostage exchange" took place, the Chinese boats fled the scene, and
with the help of another patrol vessel, the cutter evacuated two of the more
seriously hurt officers. Both were subsequently hospitalized at a Mokpo hospital.
Frontline officers have been complaining that since they were not issued
firearms, there was little they could do if the crew started disobeying orders
and turned violent. Boarding parties are only given gas or electric stun guns.
The cutter is armed with a 20mm rotary cannon and machine guns, but the use of
weapons against fishing boats is restricted since it could trigger diplomatic
complications.
Some hinted that it may be because of the first incident that the regional Coast
Guard started to clamp down harder on illegal fishing in the region, leading to
the high-profile death of Inspector Park Kyong-jo during a tragic boarding
attempt on Thursday.
Park another crewmember of cutter 3003, was killed when Chinese crewmembers
struck his head with a shovel, and he fell overboard. Six other officers were
injured in the operation that took place 73 kilometers west of Gageo. The
fishermen responsible for Park's death have all been arrested, with China's top
envoy expressing regret over the incident on Monday.
Related to the unreported incident involving the detention and assault of
officers, the regional Coast Guard said it started an investigation that could
lead to administrative actions being taken against the cutter's captain and
others who may have taken part in the cover-up.
They said that an internal affairs team has been dispatched to Mokpo to review
what happened last Tuesday.
The team will examine the circumstances that led to the release of the Chinese
fishing vessel captain, why the boat was not boarded again and the crew arrested,
and circumstances leading up to the beating of the four officers.
"If there is a need to improve equipment carried by Coast Guard personnel and
boarding procedures, such measures will be taken," a Coast Guard source said.
Seoul said that since the bilateral fisheries treaty took effect in 2001, about
3,000 Chinese boats have been captured fishing in South Korea's EEZ.
It added that in the last six years, 27 Coast Guard officers have been hurt and
one killed in the line of duty while trying to stop illegal fishing.
yonngong@yna.co.kr
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