A Chinese fisherman was Monday sentenced to one year in prison for illegally fishing in South Korean waters near the disputed inter-Korean sea border.
The 49-year-old captain of a Chinese boat, whose identity has been withheld, was found guilty of fishing illegally at the South Korean maritime border, known as the Northern Limit Line on April 14, 2014.
The Incheon District Court also convicted the Chinese skipper of running away from the Coast Guard boats patrolling the area.
“The defendant deleted all GPS records after being caught,” Judge Shim Dong-young said.
Illegal fishing by Chinese ships has become a source of diplomatic tension between the two countries in recent years. In 2011, a South Korean coast guard officer was killed by Chinese fishermen during a raid in South Korean waters.
More than 29,600 Chinese fishing ships are believed to have crossed South Korea’s western maritime border in the second half of 2014, up more than 16 percent from some 25,400 in the same period in 2013, according to government data.
Yonhap News Agency