The news has been confirmed by the South Korean government and the incident heated up the tensions on the divided peninsula over North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs. As the two Koreas have been mired in a standoff for more than a year over Seoul’s tough policy toward Pyongyang this seizing of fishing boat and investigation is a big blow.
It was on Thursday morning when a North Korean patrol boat took the 29-ton fishing boat “800 Yeonan” into custody after it crossed into the North’s eastern waters. The reason behind such cross border activity was that its satellite navigation system malfunctioned. According to an official at South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff the boat was taken to North Korea’s eastern port of Jangjon, just north of the border.
Reacting over the seizure South Korea asked the North to quickly release the vessel and crew, Seoul’s Unification Ministry said, citing Seoul’s repatriation of North Korean fishing boats in recent years. An unidentified North Korean maritime official told a South Korean counterpart by telephone that “a related agency is investigating” the incident. Although North Korea’s state news agency, monitored in Seoul, carried no reports on the incident.
After the news of seizure came dozens of demonstrators gathered in central Seoul to denounce the North and call for the immediate release of the fishing boat and crew. Some burned a North Korean flag and a photo of the country’s leader, Kim Jong Il, and one believed to be of his third son, Kim Jong Un, who has come under intense media scrutiny in recent months as a possible successor.
