China Points to Pyongyang in Fishermen's Detention - Wall Street Journal

By BRIAN SPEGELE

BEIJINGâ€"China's state media said that North Korea's government was behind the detention of a group of 28 Chinese fishermen released on Sunday, in a rare case of publicly strained diplomatic relations between the neighbors and allies.

Owners of the captured vessels said in interviews that members of their crews were beaten and deprived of food and water during the nearly two weeks of detention.

The fishermen returned to the northeastern Chinese port city of Dalian Monday morning, though significant questions remain, including the extent of Pyongyang authorities' involvement in the capture and whether Beijing had agreed to pay ransom.

An official at North Korean's diplomatic mission to the United Nations in New York said he had no information about the matter. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei, during a daily press briefing on Monday, declined to offer specifics on the role played by North Korean authorities or say whether ties between the countries would suffer.

But a report Monday by the state-run Xinhua news agency, a key government propaganda organ, said the three vessels had been detained on May 8 "by the DPRK"â€"a sign China believes North Korean authorities were involved. DPRK is an acronym for North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

China's Foreign Ministry provided scant details on the missing fishermen as public outrage in China swelled late last week. Many criticized what was seen as a tepid Chinese response to Pyongyang, which relies heavily on Beijing for economic and military support.

The ships' owners said Chinese fishermen had suffered abuse in captivity. Sun Caihui, who owns one of the ships, said in an interview Monday that fishermen were held in a small compartment by North Korean hijackers, and many were beaten. Xinhua reported that the fishermen were mostly in "normal physical condition."

In an interview broadcast on Shanghai-based Dragon TV, a man the network identified as the captain of the one of the ships said the North Korean captors were wearing military uniforms and carried guns. He said the boats had been operating inside Chinese territorial waters when they were seized.

Some Chinese Internet users and even some media have criticized Beijing's handling of the situation. Some have said it joins a list of cases that underscore Beijing's wider struggles to protect growing numbers of citizens beyond its shores.

In an editorial on Monday, the popular Global Times newspaper demanded North Korean authorities protect Chinese citizens. "China will not allow any misbehavior by North Korea," the editorial read. "North Korea should respect China's every concrete interest, especially the lives and property of Chinese citizens."

Some media and Web users have used the detention as an argument for a change in what they see as China's unnecessarily close relations with Pyongyang. "China can't always forgive North Koreans' lawless behavior," wrote one user of Sina Corp.'s popular Weibo microblogging service wrote on Monday. "North Korean isn't a brother country of China…why does North Korea unexpectedly intrude on China's territorial waters?"

Beijing has long backed the Pyongyang regime as a buffer against U.S. military influence in South Korea. China also worries that political instability in North Korea could spur a refugee crisis along its borders.

Nonetheless, Chinese censors have tolerated open criticism of North Korea in recent days, which analysts said signaled growing frustration by Beijing over its politically isolated neighbor.

China reacted warily to North Korea's failed rocket test launch last month, which was seen as a blow to Kim Jong Eun's young regime. Ahead of the launch, which further strained relations between Pyongyang and Washington, China's foreign minister said he was troubled by developments in North Korea.

â€"Kersten Zhang contributed to this article.

Write to Brian Spegele at brian.spegele@wsj.com