Foreign national jumps into sea to flee Coast Guard check, two others found hiding aboard

Coast Guard officers pulled three foreigners who overstayed their visas off a fishing boat in Boryeong, South Chungcheong, on Monday after one jumped into the open sea to dodge an identification check. 

All three are Vietnamese nationals, the Boryeong Coast Guard Station said Tuesday. Officers apprehended them on suspicion of violating the Immigration Act and handed them over to immigration authorities.

Officers were inspecting a 69-ton offshore fishing boat at about 11:30 a.m. Monday when they noticed one of the foreign crew members was not wearing a life jacket. He refused to show identification and jumped overboard.

The search that followed found two more men hiding on the stern deck and in a storage area near the sleeping quarters.

All three had visas that expired before 2024 but remained in Korea and continued working, investigators found. The man who jumped overboard had been staying in the country without a valid visa for roughly seven years, since his visa expired in 2019.

“We are strengthening inspections at ports and harbors and aboard vessels to guard against illegal entry by sea and unauthorized boarding by foreign nationals without legal status,” Jang Yun-seok, chief of the Boryeong Coast Guard Station, said. “We will continue doing our utmost to maintain maritime order and ensure public safety.”

BY JEONG JAE-HONG [cho.yongjun1@joongang.co.kr]