S Korea threatens crackdown on illegal Chinese fishing

South Korea will take "a full array of countermeasures" against illegal Chinese fishing ships in South Korean waters, according to an announcement made by the South Korean Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries on Sunday.

The ministry stated South Korea will enhance its enforcement and equipment during the upcoming fishing season and asked its Chinese counterpart to strengthen the education of Chinese fishers, Seoul Broadcasting System reported.

Reports also said the South Korean government will invest 20 billion won ($18.8 million) in a 1,000-ton fishery administration vessel, and Chinese fishing ships caught illegally fishing for a second time would be fined up to 200 million won.

The announcement came after two Chinese fishing ships were detained and investigated by the ministry on Saturday.

Cai Jian, a professor of Korean studies at Fudan University, told the Global Times that the intensified measures show the South Korean government is attaching greater importance to controlling its waters.

"The fishery conflict is not only economic, but involves territorial elements," Cai said, adding that in recent years China has taken a harder stance on territorial disputes in the East China Sea and South China Sea, which will impose pressure to South Korea, "with whom disagreement still exists, for example on the Suyan Islet problem."

China and South Korea signed a fishery agreement in 2000, marking common fishing areas and allowing only boats with a permit to fish in the other country's waters.

In October, a Chinese fisherman was shot dead by rubber bullets during a confrontation with South Korean coastguards. On December 2011, a South Korean coastguard was stabbed to death by a Chinese fisherman during a crackdown on illegal fishing.

Li Mingliang, a fisherman in Rongcheng, Shandong Province, told the Global Times that the local government intensified the education of fishermen and strengthened supervision after the deadly incidents, but many fishing boats lacking a permit still took the risk.