The Ministry of the Interior and Safety said on Oct. 20 that it held a meeting to review measures to strengthen the management of fishing vessels.
The meeting, presided over by Kim Gwang-yong, head of the Disaster and Safety Management Headquarters at the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, was attended by central government ministries and agencies including the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, the Ministry of National Defense, the Korea meteorological Administration, the Korea Coast Guard, and the National Fire Agency, as well as local governments and public institutions.
From October to March of the following year over the past five years has been the period when casualties from fishing vessel accidents are concentrated. All fishing vessel accidents that resulted in five or more casualties from 2020 to 2024 occurred during this period.
Accordingly, participants reviewed measures to strengthen safety management of fishing vessels and focused on discussing ways to establish a culture of wearing life jackets in line with the mandate for crew on vessels with two or fewer people to wear life jackets.
To enhance its capacity to respond to ship accidents, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety plans to conduct a joint response drill with related agencies in late November. The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries plans to concentrate fisheries guidance vessels in vulnerable waters and strengthen on-site guidance and inspections by fishing vessel safety supervisors.
In addition, the Korea Coast Guard will review its emergency rescue preparedness and response system, including basic joint public-private disaster preparedness drills, surveillance of accident-prone waters, forward deployment of patrol vessels, and maintaining emergency dispatch posture. The Ministry of National Defense will reconfirm the military's readiness posture for searching for the missing and conducting rescues in the event of an accident, and the National Fire Agency will make every effort to provide first aid and transport victims. Local governments will conduct safety inspections of fishing vessels and encourage crew to wear life jackets through text messages to fishers and village broadcasts.
Deputy Minister Kim Gwang-yong said, "We will carefully review the accident response system to prevent casualties from fishing vessel accidents and work to establish a culture of wearing life jackets during operations."