Seoul [South Korea], October 6 : South Korea's Coast Guard caught eight Chinese nationals who attempted to enter the country by boat illegally, authorities announced Monday, according to The Yonhap news agency.
The group was intercepted in the early hours of the morning, after an unidentified vessel was spotted off the country's west coast late Sunday night. The alert came in at 11:38 pm, and the boat was captured at approximately 1:43 am on Monday, about 40 kilometres northwest of Gauido Island.
The small leisure boat, carrying all eight individuals, was towed to a port in Taean County, South Chungcheong Province.
During the operation, one of the passengers jumped into the sea in an apparent bid to escape, but was quickly rescued, as per The Yonhap news agency.
The Coast Guard said the group departed from Weihai in eastern Shandong Province at around 10 a.m. Sunday, about 300 km west of South Korea's coast, in an attempt to enter the country illegally to find jobs.
They allegedly disguised themselves as anglers, carrying four fishing rods, food and water on board, The Yonhap news agency reported.
The Coast Guard said it plans to seek arrest warrants for the eight on charges of violating the Immigration Control Act.
The incident comes amid growing regional concerns about China's maritime activity, particularly its use of civilian vessels for strategic purposes.
In a related development, Taipei Times reported that Chinese ships have been broadcasting false signals in Taiwan's territorial waters as a form of cognitive warfaredeliberately testing Taiwan's response to various types of maritime intrusions, Taipei Times reported, citing a report by the Institute for the Study of War published.
Earlier, several Chinese fishing vessels emitted counterfeit automatic identification system (AIS) signals in Taiwan's waters, with one imitating a Russian warship and another pretending to be a Chinese law enforcement vessel, the report indicated.
The report referenced data from Starboard Maritime Intelligence, revealing that throughout August and the previous month, the Chinese fishing boat Min Shi Yu 06718 navigated through the Taiwan Strait while periodically sending out its own AIS and that of a vessel named Hai Xun 15012, as reported by Taipei Times.
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