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Liu Zhen

South Korea has deployed its newest and largest coastguard ship to watch over waters near an islet in dispute with China.
The 5,000-tonne Lee Cheong-ho arrived at a new naval base on Jeju Island on Thurday. The ship was named after a coastguard officer who was killed on duty in December 2011 in a clash with Chinese fishing boats.
Air defence zone in East China Sea to remain ‘forever’, say Beijing advisers
The patrol vessel was launched in April will undertake its maiden voyage on June 28 to the disputed Ieodo Islet, South Korea’s official news agency Yonhap reported.

Ieodo is also called Suyan Reef by Beijing and appears on other maps as Socotra Rock, after a British merchant ship that discovered it in 1900.
South Korea’s Ministry of Public Safety and Security said Wednesday that the ship would guard the country’s territorial waters and patrol against illegal fishing.
The ship will operate south of the resort island of Jeju and support South Korea’s marine science base built on the Ieodo, a submerged seamount 150km southeast of Jeju in the East China Sea.
South Korea expands air defence zone to overlap China's
South Korea maintains a research station on an oil-rig like structure atop the rock.
Ieodo is also claimed by China, with Chinese fishermen often operating in the region and reportedly clashing with South Korean maritime patrols.
The islet, along with others in the region, is now in overlapping regions of the air defence idenifitcation zones (ADIZ) of China, South Korean and Japan. Ieodo used to be outside South Korea’s Adiz but inside Japan’s. In November, 2013, China declared its East China Sea Air Defence Identification Zone to include both Ieodo and the Diaoyu islands, known as Senkakus, which also lay inside Japan’s ADIZ. Two weeks later, South Korea extended its ADIZ south to include Ieodo.

Professor Lee Jung Nam, from Korea University, said that there was a consensus between governments of South Korea and China that the two countries had no sovereignty disputes.
“I think the major reason [to announce the deployment of the coastguard ship today] is that the South Korean government and its people have very negative views about incursions by Chinese fishermen and that South Korean government has recently summoned the Chinese ambassador [twice]to protest the incidents.”
But a sovereign dispute with Beijing was one of the last things Seoul wanted to play up because the Korean side had nothing to gain from it, Lee added.
The Lee Cheong-ho will also carry out search and rescue missions, and deal with official Chinese ships operating nearby, the report said.
South Korea seized about 600 Chinese vessels last year for illegal fishing and more than 100 this year as of May, most in waters off the western coast of South Korea, according to the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries.
China expressed anger in October 2014 when a South Korean coast guardsman shot and killed the captain of a Chinese fishing vessel who had violently resisted the inspection of his ship for suspected illegal fishing.


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East China Sea

South Korea deploys new coastguard ship to watch waters around disputed Ieodo islet

South Korea's research station atop Ieodo Islet, a submerged seamount claimed by China and South Korea in the East China Sea. Photo: SCMP Pictures

Republic of Korea Coast Guard Sam-Bong Class 5002. SCMP Pictures (UNDATED HANDOUT)

epa05351037 A handout picture provided by the Incheon branch of the South Korea Coast Guard shows members of a special maritime unit training ahead of their deployment at the western border island of Yeonpyeong, South Korea, 08 June 2016, to fend off Chinese boats fishing illegally in South Korean waters. The unit has been bolstered in size to deal with the growing problem of Chinese fishing boats encroaching into South Korea's waters. A Seoul official said the government on the same day protested to Beijing about the violations. EPA/INCHEON'S KOREA COAST GUARD SOUTH KOREA OUT HANDOUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO SALES

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Submerged seamount in the East China Sea is claimed both by Beijing and Seoul and is listed within the overlapping air defence zones of three northeast Asian neighbours


South Korea deploys new coastguard ship to watch waters around disputed Ieodo islet

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Submerged seamount in the East China Sea is claimed both by Beijing and Seoul and is listed within the overlapping air defence zones of three northeast Asian neighbours

Submerged seamount in the East China Sea is claimed both by Beijing and Seoul and is listed within the overlapping air defence zones of three northeast Asian neighbours