Korea Coast Guard

The end of World War II saw an end to territorial disputes In Europe, Russia excepted. The end of World War II gave rise to a host of territorial disputes in Asia, many of which have become increasingly acute in the new century. Most of these disputes center on small islands. Asian countries such as China, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam and Taiwan have postured the Coast Guards to contest these disputes. They have deployed cutters that are either armed only with water cannon, or with only medium caliber guns that might damage but not sink their counterparts. The intent is to limit the potential for escalation inherent in a full scale naval engagement.

South Korea's National Assembly voted 07 Nocvember 2014 to disband the country's coastguard, as part of a package of laws intended to prevent future accidents like the ferry disaster which killed more than 300 people in April. The lawmakers voted 146-71 in favor of splitting the coast guard's duties between the National Police Agency and a broader safety agency that would be established. Thirty-two lawmakers abstained.

The South Korean coastguard was identified as one guilty party in a series of negligent errors both before and after the disaster, in which the Sewol ferry sank on its route to Jeju island carrying 476 passengers, most of them being high school students. In the aftermath of the catastrophe, South Korean President Park Geun-hye made a televised address to the nation in which she acknowledged the criticism of the rescue response. "The Korea Coast Guard did not live up to its inherent duties in this ferry disaster. Had it performed rescue operations promptly and proactively right after the accident, the number of victims could have been greatly reduced. The Coast Guard's rescue operations were virtually a failure," she said.

Park said the government will transfer the investigation and intelligence function of the Coast Guard to the National Police Agency, and the rescue and security function to a newly created Ministry of National Safety.

At the 18 November 2014 inauguration ceremony of the safety ministry and agency in charge of government personnel matters, Prime Minister Chung Hong-won said an integrated disaster response system was needed to guarantee the people's safety, and he called for agencies to quickly adapt to the new command structure. Taking lessons from the April 2014 Sewol-ho ferry disaster, the Ministry of Public Safety and Security, with a staff of 10-thousand people, would act as the government's "control tower" for safeguarding the Korean population. The Korea Coast Guard and the National Emergency Management Agency were placed under its watch as two sub-level agencies. Former Navy Admiral Park In-yong was tapped to lead the new safety ministry and awaited a confirmation hearing at the National Assembly.

The Korea Coast Guard had been securing maritime sovereignty and protecting people's lifes and safety since 1953. The Republic of Korea Maritime Police Ting Korea Coast Guard is the predecessor, formed 23 December 1953 in the Busan Security Bureau of the Ministry of Interior to establish the membership of the marine police team. Bases were established in Busan, Incheon, Gunsan, Mokpo, Pohang, Mukho and Jeju. In 1979 the Korea Maritime Police Force headquarters building in Incheon Metropolitan City established its affiliation period since the Interior Ministry of Industry and into industry, then back to the Interior Ministry. In 1991 the Korea Maritime Police Force became the Coast Guard, and the marine police team was under the jurisdiction of the National Police Agency. In 1996 became independent from the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries as affiliated organization. The KCG is an external branch of Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs at peacetime.

South Korean marine police Coast Guard and Marine Police Department is headquartered in Incheon Wolmido, Marine Police Headquarters's were set up in Incheon, Tai'an, mountains, Mokpo, Wando Yeosu, Jeju, Tongyeong, Busan, Ulsan, Pohang, East China Sea and Sokcho and other places, in which the size of the largest Coast Guard is Busan. Each has police patrol vessels and are equipped with a small patrol boats. Marine Police Department had 71 police stations in the country, including 258 lower offices. Since April 2006 Korea established a local marine police headquarters in Busan, Incheon, Mokpo and Tokai these four areas. In the waters of each command system integration and preparedness is maintained in response to the characteristics of each region to efficiently reach a local marine police headquarters established business purposes, one of its headquarters jurisdiction 3-4 Marine Police Department.

Busan Busan headquarters jurisdiction, Ulsan and Tongyeong Marine Police Department, under the jurisdiction of Incheon Incheon headquarters, Tai'an and mountains ocean Police Department, the headquarters of the jurisdiction of Mokpo Mokpo, Jeju, Yeosu and Wando Island Marine Police Department, and the East China Sea Headquarters jurisdiction East China Sea, Sokcho and Pu Hong Kong Marine Police Department. Busan has a large naval preparedness and repair facilities, equipment maintenance work carried out for the entire marine police are equipped with a variety of ships.

The Korean Peninsula, surrounded on east, west and south by sea, has maritime territory 4.5 times the size of its land. It is through the sea that Korea is linked with its key neighbors in the area - Japan, Russia and China (Korea and China share a land border, too) and for this reason, the Korean Coast Guard bears a grave responsibility to watch over the seas of the motherland.

The Korea Coast Guard ensured that increasingly freer fishery operations can take place at the 200 nautical miles exclusive economic waters that reach up to the Dokdo, Ieodo and EEZ waters thanks to a system for the patrol of greater area. In particular, it controled the foreign vessels operating in Korean territorial sea and exclusive economic waters to protect Korean fishery resources, and focused on Korean vessels safe fishing.

Through aircraft patrol, the Coast Guard collected information on the fishing fleet to induce structured vessel arrangement. Likewise, we spearhead the effort to set up the order in ocean and to protect the resources, protecting Korea's maritime sovereignty. Korea Coast Guard-specific guard operations that take place on the ocean and in the sky help to consolidate Korea's maritime sovereignty even more and to develop the sturdiest security in the world.

Provide prompt conformity for battle preparing Contingency occurring between neighboring countries based on the field. Promotion for Ulleungdo forward base built for rapid response to Dokdo waters. Depending on the type of crisis, augmented deployment of flexible security forces (conduct joint exercises).

To establish public authorities and solve diplomatic matters for foreign vessels conducting illegal fishing. Establish maritime public authorities through a decisive response to illegal activities. Fishing vessels acting violation of violence, resistance, and obstruction of justice will be directly taken over to flag state to induce double penalty after internal punishment. Seek for bilateral diplomatic solution through demands on Chinese side for enhanced enforcement and etc.

Illegal fishing has jumped nine-fold ever since the Korea-China Fishery Pact in 2001 that reduced the fishing boundaries on the Chinese side. South Korea's coastguard regularly chases Chinese fishing boats out of its western seas and violence does sometimes occur. Clashes between Chinese fishermen and the South Korean coast guard are not unusual and have strained relations in the past. A South Korean coast guard officer was stabbed to death by a Chinese fisherman in 2011 and the following year a Chinese fisherman died from injuries in a confrontation with the coastguard.

On October 10, 2014 South Korea's coast guard shot and killed a Chinese fisherman after officials say he resisted arrest while fishing illegally in South Korean waters. The coast guard said it boarded the Chinese fishing boat Friday in the Yellow Sea, well within South Korea's exclusive economic zone. The agency said dozens of Chinese sailors armed with beer bottles and knives had attacked the coast guard officers.

Acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn Hwang said 16 January 2017 that South Korea would establish a special Coast Guard unit for the county’s five border islands in the Yellow Sea to beef up crackdown on illegal fishing in waters near the Northern Limit Line. During a visit to the Incheon Coast Guard, Hwang said illegal fishing in South Korean waters has sharply decreased, and South Koreans' fishing catches are up thanks to an ongoing crackdown by the Coast Guard. He vowed to increase coast guard officials and gear, including more ships and helicopters. South Korea toughened its rules of engagement after an illegal Chinese fishing boat rammed and sank a Coast Guard vessel October 2016.

The Korea Coast Guard established a new agency specially dedicated to dealing with illegal Chinese fishing vessels. The 'special five-island guard' began operations in February 2017 to better protect the five Yellow Sea border islands and their surrounding marine resources. It was comprised of six medium-sized warships and three bullet-proof vessels as well as 180 Coast Guard personnel. The Coast Guard eventually planned to expand a docking facility to accommodate mid-sized warships in the islands of Baengnyeong and Daecheong islands. Illegal Chinese fishing boats have attacked South Korea's Coast Guard on several past occasions, and South Korea recently toughened its policy to permit the use of firearms against the vessels.

On 15 August 2020 a South Korean coast guard ship ordered a Japanese coast guard vessel to end a survey it was conducting in Japan's exclusive economic zone off the southwestern prefecture of Nagasaki. The South Korean ship radioed the demand when the Japanese vessel was engaged in a survey about 140 kilometers west of Meshima, an islet in Nagasaki's Goto Islands. The JCG said the waters are within Japan's EEZ. The JCG says the South Korean ship demanded an immediate halt to the survey by claiming that conducting scientific research in South Korean waters requires prior approval by the South Korean government. The JCG responded that the Japanese vessel had been undertaking a legitimate survey in Japan's EEZ. It also urged the South Korean ship to immediately stop making the demand and leave the vicinity of the Japanese vessel. The JCG said this is the first time that a South Korean coast guard ship had issued such an order.