Japan must stop seizing South Korean fishing boats in its redefined territorial waters and immediately release the skippers of the captured vessels, South Korean Ambassador Kim Tae Zhee told Vice Foreign Minister Shunji Yanai on July 14, according to ministry officials.
Kim told Yanai that Tokyo should apologize for alleged beatings of captains and crew members by Japanese patrol officials, the ministry officials said. Territorial waters were previously drawn from a baseline running from the coastline. But at the the start of the year, Tokyo began enforcing its territorial waters drawn from a straight baseline, expanding its territory. Yanai told Kim that Tokyo had the sovereign right to redraw the lines and that it adhered to international rules.
Seoul argued that the unilateral remapping violated the rules. Kim said he hopes for a resolution soon to recent ship incidents so the two nations can resume fishery talks and establish new fishing rules, they said.