North Korea "hijacked" fishing crew and ransoms 98,000 dollars

China has asked North Korea to release a fishing crew of 16 seized more than two weeks ago in an incident that state media called a "hijacking" of their boat. The kidnappers demanded 600,000 yuan (98,000 dollars) for the return of the boat and crew.

The Chinese embassy in Pyongyang was negotiating with North Korean officials to "release the boat and the fishermen as soon as possible," the official Xinhua news agency quoted Jiang Yaxian, a counsellor at the embassy, as saying.

The privately owned fishing boat, based in the north-eastern Chinese port of Dalian, was seized May 5 by "armed North Koreans" who demanded 600,000 yuan (98,000 dollars) by Sunday for the return of the boat and crew, the Global Times newspaper quoted Yu Xuejin, the vessel's owner, dpa reported.

Yu had received eight telephone calls from the North Korean "kidnappers" of the crew, who had been fishing in Chinese waters, according to the newspaper.

"The ship was equipped with GPS and (Chinese) Beidou positioning systems to make sure our fishermen know their accurate location every second," Yu said.