WINWEX

North Korea holds South Korean fishing boat

North Korea suspends a South Korean fishing boat and its crew.

South Korea demanded that they be released immediately but there is concern this problem will be difficult because of the increasing tension recently between the two governments.

South Korean coast guard forces said the fishing boat was captured and brought to port in North Korea.

Seven crew consisting of four South Koreans and three Chinese citizens are being questioned.

There is concern this problem will become harder because of this arrest coincides with the holding of large-scale naval training conducted by the South Korean joint American.

Military training
The exercise was intended to send a message to North Korea following the drowning one South Korean warship in March.

Training plan has sparked threats from North Korea, which has been denied responsibility for the sinking ship.

Last year North Korea freeing four South Korean fisherman nearly a month after they were arrested.

Pyongyang said they were arrested for going into the country’s territorial waters.

But such cases are now less frequent than before.

For several years after the Korean War in the 1950s, North Korea is believed to kidnap hundreds of South Korean fishermen and many of them never returned.