North Korea likely fired at Chinese trawler-report

Mon Sep 29, 2008 4:11pm IST

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea's coast guard is suspected of firing at a Chinese trawler for illegally fishing in its waters, seriously injuring one Chinese sailor, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said on Monday, quoting military officials.
News of the incident came after Chinese fishermen on a separate ship were arrested in the South on suspicion of beating to death a South Korean coast guard officer at the weekend who tried to board their vessel after it was found to be illegally fishing.
South Korea military officials say a growing number of Chinese fishing vessels are suspected of illegally fishing in North and South Korean territorial waters because overfishing and pollution is wiping out fish stocks off the Chinese coast, Yonhap said.

"North Korean coast guards often fire at Chinese boats trespassing in North Korean waters and illegally fishing," the unnamed official told Yonhap.
China is the closest thing North Korea can call to an ally.
The Chinese trawler was suspected of taking fire on Saturday and eventually ended up in a South Korean port. The captain, hit by shrapnel in his head and leg, was taken to an area hospital and is expected to recover, the South's Coast Guard said in a news release.

"This is not the first time Chinese vessels have intruded into North or South Korean waters," an official with the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff told Reuters.

In the separate incident in South Korea waters, the Chinese crew was suspected of using shovels and hammers to attack the South Korean coast guard officer and then dumping his body at sea, the coast guard said.