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A South Korean excavator ship collided with a North Korean fishing boat in the East Sea 4.9 miles northeast of Jangjeon Port in North Korea in the small hours of Tuesday. Two North Korean fishermen are missing, Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Ho-nyoun said. Of the four people aboard the North Korean boat, two were rescued by the South Korean ship.¡±
The 658-ton South Korean ship Dongi No. 1 met with the mishap around 2:25 a.m. on Tuesday, when it was heading to Geoje Port in South Korea after loading sand from the area near Jangjeon Port. Right after the collision, the boat returned to the North Korean port and its 10 crew are being questioned by North Korean authorities, the ministry said.
The cause of the collision has not been identified. The weather was good in the area of collision, with the waves only 1 m high and visibility of 3.2 km. The inter-Korean maritime agreement signed in 2004 stipulates that the two Koreas are to notify each other's maritime authorities of any accident at sea quickly, but North Korea failed to give any notification about the accident, the spokesman said. Seoul reportedly found out about the accident by eavesdropping on North Korean telecommunications.
The spokesman insisted the mishap was an accident. ¡°It will be solved according to the international rules and marine insurance regulations. The insurance company will find out who was responsible and deal with the matter accordingly."
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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