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The Japanese and Korean governments hammered out an agreement on Thursday to resolve a 30-hour standoff between the nations' coast guards in the East Sea. Japan will withdraw three patrol boats tethered to the starboard side of a Korean trawler it says was illegally fishing in its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and Korea, which has three boats lashed to the trawler¡¯s larboard side, will investigate whether it did.
Seoul agreed to take legal action against the skipper of the Shinpung-ho if it finds the trawler really was fishing in Japan¡¯s EEZ. Korea agreed to concede that the Shinpung-ho had illegally intruded into the EEZ and fled after failing to respond to a request for an inspection from the Japanese patrol boats. It also agreed to pay a security of 500,000 yen (about US$4,600) for the violation of Japanese laws.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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