Photo Credit: Lee Jin-man/AP
A North Korean patrol boat seized a South Korean squidding boat, the Daeseung 55, Sunday. There were seven South Korean and Chinese citizens on board at the time, and the boat is believed to have been in or near North Korea’s “exclusive economic zone.”
“It’s unclear whether the Daeseung actually violated the North’s EEZ or it was caught while catching fish on the open seas.We expect the North will make an announcement,” a government official said to the Chosun Ilbo.
According to a statement from the South Korean Coast Guard, authorities asked the Daeseung crew, “Are you being dragged by a North Korean patrol boat,” to which the crew replied, “Yes.”
There have been no further communications between the crew and South Korean authorities, and Pyongyang has so far given no response.
Although North Korea’s intentions are unclear, it seems likely that this is the North’s “strong physical retaliation” to the US-S. Korean maritime exercises, which were in turn, a response to North Korea’s sinking of the Cheonan.
