Seoul and Washington stepped up pressure on North Korea with a new round of joint naval drills set for next month. In reaction to that North Korea has seized a South Korean fishing boat. Information revealed that the boat was captured on 8 August off the east coast of the divided peninsula, the first time the reclusive regime has admitted seizing the vessel, confirmed the North’s official Korean Central News Agency.
The capture of the 41-tonne boat came with inter-Korean ties at a new low after Seoul accused Pyongyang of torpedoing a South Korean corvette in March, blowing the Cheonan in half and killing 46 sailors. North Korea said that the boat, with four South Koreans and three Chinese on board, intruded into North Korean economic zone.
The South had sent North Korea a message urging it to release the boat and its crew “in accordance with international laws and customs and humanitarian spirit”. The fishing boat was taken in during a major South Korean naval exercise in the Yellow Sea, on the other side of the peninsula, for which the North had threatened retaliation.
Despite strong protests from North Korea and its close ally China, Washington and Seoul announced Wednesday a joint anti-submarine exercise in the Yellow Sea in September to send a “clear message” to Pyongyang.
