South Korea and China will jointly monitor illegal Chinese fishing boats for a week beginning Friday.
According to the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries Wednesday, patrol boats from both countries will inspect the Korea-China Interim Measures Zone in the Yellow Sea from March 18th through 24th.
South Korea’s inspection ships will be dispatched by the West Sea Fisheries Management Service while China’s Coast Guard will send its patrol ships to the zone, which is frequented by illegal Chinese fishing vessels.
It will mark the fifth joint patrol of the area between the two countries since they agreed on the joint crackdown on illegal Chinese fishing boats during a bilateral summit in June 2013. During their joint watch last year, six Chinese boats were caught fishing illegally in South Korean waters.
The two countries plan to conduct a joint patrol two other times this year in June and October.