N Korea 'seizes S Korea vessel'

N Korea 'seizes S Korea vessel'

news.bbc.co.uk

A South Korean fishing boat has been towed away by a North Korean patrol boat off the peninsula's east coast, South Korean officials say.

The military says the ship may have strayed north of the maritime border due to a navigation system error.

The four-man crew had been fishing for squid at the time.

The incident comes as relations between the rival North and South states are tense over the North's nuclear and missile programmes.

An official, who spoke on customary condition of anonymity, told the Associated Press that South Korea had already asked the North to release the boat.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Headline appears mis-leading makes you think "oh #" at first....

Then you read that it's only a fishing vessel.

A BBC correspondent in Seoul says that a South Korean boat that drifted into the North's waters in 2006 was returned after 18 days.

And last time this happened without further incident and was returned. Hopefully cool heads will prevail this time like before. Don't use it as an excuse for war.

news.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)


[edit on 29-7-2009 by john124]

FOX news website says ship sparks Korean standoff: www.foxnews.com...

Is that not a bit of an exagerration?

Ummmm yeah. Isnt that what i just posted?

Originally posted by john124
FOX news website says ship sparks Korean standoff: www.foxnews.com...

Is that not a bit of an exagerration?

Originally posted by princeofpeace
Ummmm yeah. Isnt that what i just posted?

Originally posted by john124
FOX news website says ship sparks Korean standoff: www.foxnews.com...

Is that not a bit of an exagerration?

WOW your thread was posted at the same time as my BBC link, exactly to the minute. Funny coincidence.

Nobody seems interested... usually you would get 20 comments by now for something like your headline as it's more eyecatching than mine.

[edit on 29-7-2009 by john124]

Maybe people are waiting to find out which thread they're supposed to post in... But seriously, I'm sure that all the usual suspects on here will say all the usual things.

I'm curious how, exactly, a ship "accidentally" makes a mistake that huge. I know if I were operating that close to such a hostile country, I'd make darn sure I knew where I was. I think one of two things happened: The ship ventured into those waters to provoke something, or they were kidnapped out of peaceful waters and Kim Dong Dill is lying.

Originally posted by mattifikation
Maybe people are waiting to find out which thread they're supposed to post in...

But seriously, I'm sure that all the usual suspects on here will say all the usual things.

I'm curious how, exactly, a ship "accidentally" makes a mistake that huge. I know if I were operating that close to such a hostile country, I'd make darn sure I knew where I was. I think one of two things happened: The ship ventured into those waters to provoke something, or they were kidnapped out of peaceful waters and Kim Dong Dill is lying.

After consideration I'd have to say either something like their GPS failed, or more likely they were kidnapped a mile or so close to the border line.

Yeah there will be people saying "war war war, now now" and those saying "calm down dear, it's only N.Korea blustering"

Or maybe the fisherman dropped their compass into the water after a shark attacked them. And the shark happened to be Kim dim-dong in his scary sharko-mobile.





[edit on 29-7-2009 by john124]

satelite systems malfunctioned.... bull crap. heres my take on it. thye were spies.. that border is the most militarized in the world, how does a fishing vessel not know where the border is... they probably grow up that way, dont cros this border dont do it, ever... how do you not know where the border is, its stupid to think that just ebcause they couldnt tell on thier radar/GPS thing where they were that they didnt know just by lookin out of the window where they were, they knew where they wee and were caught.. stupid story...

I believe that the GPS malfunctioned.... I mean how are you gonna tell where a border is when on a boat with out GPS. Its not like a land border where there is a fence and such... there is just waves in the ocean/sea. and its a fishing boat I doubt they have a awesome GPS system.... heck they probly just ventured to far following a school of fish of somthing harmless.

reply to post by john124


Seems like a minor incident, but lesser incidents have started wars my friends.

Lets hope not on this occasion.

Be prepared, be very prepared. . . this is going to create a sharp increase in people purchasing gas masks and stocking up on tinned food in readiness for the imminent Anarchy.

Not much at all in the news about this today. I wonder why given all the recent hype surrounding north korea.

Originally posted by mattifikation
I'm curious how, exactly, a ship "accidentally" makes a mistake that huge. I know if I were operating that close to such a hostile country, I'd make darn sure I knew where I was.

Yhea right... So the GPS malfunctioned but they must of know the proximity of the border - whack out the compass and make south 20 miles... lose some fishing time, maybe some gear and take the hit on fuel.

Unless of course this was a spying trawler. GRP construction would make sense, the boat was returned - maybe the set up was easy to toss overboard?? Ahh we'll never know.

Originally posted by john124
FOX news website says ship sparks Korean standoff: www.foxnews.com...

Is that not a bit of an exagerration?

Yeah, but thats Fox News, its to be expected.

I'd love to see 'em send Bill O'Reilly over to North Korea. Hopefully he'll be fired out on a missle test.

Originally posted by TheCoffinman
satelite systems malfunctioned.... bull crap. heres my take on it. thye were spies.. that border is the most militarized in the world, how does a fishing vessel not know where the border is... they probably grow up that way, dont cros this border dont do it, ever... how do you not know where the border is, its stupid to think that just ebcause they couldnt tell on thier radar/GPS thing where they were that they didnt know just by lookin out of the window where they were, they knew where they wee and were caught.. stupid story...

See, the thing about boats.. the important thing... is that they tend to operate on the water. As opposed to, say, on land.

If they had been fishing for squid on land, then they would have encountered that massive heavily defended border you're talking about.

When you're at sea, there is a very definite lack of things like barbed wire, guard towers, concrete walls, and brave US servicemen staring endlessly at their North Korean counterparts to let you know you're in the process of crossing the DMZ.

What I'm saying is that it's not like you can look over the rails and see a jarhead bobbing in the water with inflatable water wings.

This type of story is pretty much a daily occurrence, somewhere in the world. Sometimes boats are seized, sometimes not. Sometimes it's an honest mistake, sometimes it's poaching.

The good guys (however you define them) always make honest mistakes. The bad guys (however you define them) are guilty of poaching. In reality, 99.9999% of the time, it's poaching. They've got radar, they know the stocks are high in border territory because it's risky to fish there. They make a sweep of the radar and decide to risk it. Happens every single day, somewhere in the world. NK will release them sooner rather than later, because it's only a matter of time before one of their boats makes the same "honest mistake".