Seoul court cuts Chinese captain's sentence
By Li Qian | 2012-9-13 | ONLINE EDITION
A South Korean court today commuted its sentence for a Chinese fishing boat captain who stabbed a Korean coast guard officer to death last December from 30 years to 23 years.
The Seoul High Court held a second trial of Cheng Dawei this afternoon and gave him a more lenient penalty but upheld the fine of 20 million won (US$17,727), Beijing-based Global Times reported.
Another fisherman, Liu Liancheng, was sentenced to four years behind the bars while other crew members received jail terms from 1.5 years to 2 years for "interfering with public administration."
On December 12, 2011, South Korean officers boarded a Chinese fishing boat suspected of intruding the exclusive economic zone of South Korea in the Yellow Sea. One officer was stabbed and later died of his wounds.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said, after the first trial in April, that China rejected the ruling and urged South Korea to properly handle the case and respect the legitimate rights of Chinese fishermen.
