MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd August, 2021) North Korea has been sending information on illegal fishing in the Yellow Sea to its southern neighbor through the inter-Korean communication hotlines that were restored last week, the Yonhap news agency reported on Monday, citing government sources.
On July 27, Seoul and Pyongyang reactivated the hotlines cut off by North Korea last June.
According to the sources, every day at 9.00 a.m. local time (midnight GMT) North Korea sends a fax message, detailing illegal foreign fishing operations in the Yellow Sea, including their number and location.
South Korea, for its part, has sent its own assessments to Pyongyang. A source said the information from both sides is mostly identical and that such exchanges help avoid clashes in the Yellow Sea.
The majority of the illegal fishing boats are said to be Chinese.
The dialogue between the two countries was stalled after North Korean defectors based in the South had started flying anti-North leaflets on balloons across the border in June 2020. The move resulted in Pyongyang threatening Seoul with state-level action and cutting off all communication channels. In April 2021, the heads of both countries exchanged several official messages, which led to the reopening of the hotlines.
