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Chasing Chinese at sea is p erilous Park Se-cheol fears dying at sea, but drowning isn’t what terrifies him. As a 32-year-old Coast Guard officer, he’s a strong swimmer. What haunts him are Chinese fishermen. “They’re really resistant these days,” he said, referring to the hundreds — and possibly thousands — of Chinese fisher - men illegally fishing in the Korean West Sea every year. Government statistics show that 1,586 Chinese vessels were busted from 2011 to last July. Park’s job is to take part in those busts: to raid the vessels illegally fishing in Ko - rean waters, confiscate the ships and car- goes and detain the crews, bringing for- mal charges against them. But that job is a lot riskier than it was in the past. Today, Park says, it’s “life-threat- ening.” “There’s a lot of them brandishing knives and beer bottles,” he said. “Constantly, I ask myself: ‘Am I going to die today?’” A reporter from the JoongAng Ilbo fol - lowed Park in what he calls a “life-risking” tour. Soon after the reporter boarded a 3,000- ton ship with Park at around 2:40 a.m. in waters 120 kilometers west of Gunsan, North Jeolla, a voice pierced the dark - ness: “Chinese fishing boat within visual distance!” Tension filled the air. A battle had begun. Four Coast Guard ships, including Park’s, navigated toward about 40 illegal Chinese vessels clustered together. The tide was high and the wind strong. The chase con - tinued for 30 minutes. In the end only two boats were caught, with 3,000 kilograms of anchovies and 2,500 kilograms of other fish between them. The raids were accomplished with- out a violent reaction from the interlopers. That’s not always the case. In October, a Ch inese skipper, 45, was fa- tally shot during a raid in waters 144 kilo- meters west of Wangdeung Island, Buan County. In 2011, a Korean Coast Guard officer was stabbed to death by a Chinese fisherman resisting arrest. Illegal fishing has been a problem be- tween Korea and China for a long time, but it rarely leads to diplomatic feuds. A recent report by the JoongAng Ilbo shed light on how the Chinese vessels are disposed of. The fishermen are charged a maximum of 200 million won to retrieve their ves - sels, but not many bother to pay the full amount. “We can’t store them forever,” said Jeong Myeong-gap, an officer at the Incheon Coast Guard. “Maintenance costs are another issue. So we discard them.” From 2010 to last year, the Coast Guard paid 133.6 million won to discard 12 Chi - nese vessels, he said. all stories are culled with consent from Korea Joongang Daily’s website and edited by groove Korea for length and clarity. the opinions expressed here do not necessarily represent those of groove Korea. — ed. n a t i o n a l n e w swith November 2014 / www.koreajoongangdaily.com Three high-level officials at a state-run energy company who resigned from their posts last year after a corruption scandal involving counterfeit parts in nuclear plants are back on the job, according to an opposi- tion lawmaker. One of the three was re-employed in two months, while the other two had their jobs back within nine months. The findings were presented by New Poli- tics Alliance for Democracy Rep. Chun Soon- ok during a National Assembly audit hear- ing yesterday for KEPCO E&C. Chun said she found out about the rehir- ings while reviewing a document submitted by the company, a subsidiary of the Korea Electric Power Corporation. “Rehiring these executives is a fraudulent action against the public,” said Chun. “These people resigned on their own will after the company was found to have been involved in an illicit activity that allowed faulty parts to be installed in nuclear plants.” In June last year, two state-run companies — the Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Cor- poration and KEPCO E&C — removed 246 executives in the wake of the scandal that involved counterfeit and uninspected nu- clear parts. The faulty parts caused the affected power plants to be shut down numerous times. After the parts scandal was revealed, the public became outraged when the former government officials were rehired at small- er affiliates of state-run companies. The re- hiring was considered corrupt, and includ- ed other practices such as taking bribes for parts supplies. Two executives from KHNP, the main public corporation in charge of managing operations of nuclear reactors, resigned in January. However, top management at KEPCO E&C followed suit only after it was unveiled that no one at the company had taken responsi- bility and resigned. That fueled a public outcry that resulted in the immediate resignation of the three officials. But the executive s were found to have got- ten new positions at the energy company as contract workers while receiving annual salaries of between 50 million won and 60 million won. The lawmaker said all three men are fig- ures who have powerful influence within the company, as they have worked there for more than 30 years. They had even received paychecks of as much as 180 million won a year. One of the officials, surnamed Kim, who was in charge of management and planning, also acted as a proxy CEO for four months beginning in June 2013 after CEO Ahn Se- ung-kyu resigned in the face of mounting public anger over the corruption scandal. Kim now works in the company’s public relations department. “The rehiring of executives is unethical and completely violates the social responsibility made by the current CEO of eradicating cor- ruption,” the lawmaker said. nuClear frauD figures baCK on Jo b