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 The Korea Coast Guard (KCG) announced on Wednesday that it will conduct its first joint patrol with the Chinese Coast Guard to grasp and crack down on illegal fishing in the West Sea provisional zone.
A 3,000-ton class patrol vessel belonging to the West Sea Coast Guard Station of the Korea Coast Guard and a 5,000-ton class patrol vessel belonging to the North Sea Branch of the China Coast Guard will go on patrol.
The joint patrol area starts at the top of the provisional zone between Korea and China, and extends to the edge of the Jeju area throughout the Southwest Sea. Through the patrol, the two countries will grasp the current status of illegal fishing by Chinese fishing boats and group invasions, and will instruct and control illegal fishing boats.
In particular, the KCG are cracking down on Chinese fishing boats systematically as they spread from certain areas of the West Sea to Taean, South Chungcheong Province. Therefore, the government will stress the need for efforts to eradicate poaching by sharing the seriousness of poaching with the Chinese government.
An official of the Korea Coast Guard said, "We are strengthening controls to block illegal fishing, and we are actively working to communicate and respond to it. We will continue to strengthen our international cooperation with China and other countries to protect our maritime sovereignty."
Meanwhile, the joint patrol of the Korea-China provisional zone was decided by the Korea-China Fisheries Joint Committee in 2015 and was conducted twice a year by the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries and the Chinese maritime police until 2019.
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