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Two Vietnamese crew members accused of the murder of a South Korean ship captain conduct a reenactment of the crime. (Yonhap News)

Last month, the South Korean captain and chief engineer of a deep-sea fishing vessel operating in the Indian Ocean tuna fishery were murdered by Vietnamese sailors. The murder resulted from a linguistic misunderstanding and from crew members’ anger over being told to go back to their own country, South Korean investigators have learned.

On July 4, the Busan Coast Guard announced that two 32-year-old Vietnamese sailors on the fishing vessel Gwanghyeon 803 - identified by the letters K and N - used a deadly weapon to fatally stab the 43-year-old captain, surnamed Yang, and the 42-year-old chief engineer, surnamed Kang. K and N committed the crime because of a grudge over an argument that broke out during a drinking party, the Coast Guard said.

Captain Yang hosted the drinking party at 10 pm on June 19 and drank five bottles of whiskey with the crew. K and N, who were inebriated, said “yo” to Yang. “Yo” is a Vietnamese word meaning “cheers,” but Yang mistook this for a curse word.

Yang took issue with the work attitude of K and N, including the fact that when the ship stopped in a port early last month the two had gone to get their mobile phones repaired without even telling him. Yang then said, “If you’re going to do that, just go back to your own country.” At this point, K grabbed Yang by the collar, and a physical altercation broke out.

Next, Yang used the onboard intercom to call the seven Vietnamese crew members to the pilothouse, where K and N fatally stabbed the captain and chief engineer with a deadly weapon. When the 50-year-old first mate, surnamed Lee, learned of this, he subdued K and N.

The Kwang Hyun 803

Why would the Vietnamese crew members have taken such drastic action after being told to go back to their own country?

Foreign brokers recruit crew members in other countries for jobs in the fishing industry and find them jobs on deep-sea fishing vessels through South Korean job placement firms.

Brokers collect a brokerage fee and some form of collateral from crew members to ensure their good behavior. If crew members cause problems, they typically cannot get their collateral back, sources say.

K and N paid a fee of 3 million won (US$2,600) to secure a position on the Gwanghyeon 803 in February of last year. This is reportedly enough money to support a family of four for one year in Vietnam.

As of this year, there are 220 deep-sea fishing vessels flying a South Korean flag, with 1,492 South Korean crew members and 3,374 foreign crew members.

“There is a high risk of cultural conflict or communication problems occurring when Korean and foreign crew members live together on a tiny ship, but we leave management of the crew members to the captain’s discretion,” said a source at one fishing company.

“Fishing companies are responsible for managing foreign crew members aboard deep-sea fishing vessels. As far as I know, there is no government body or program that is supposed to keep track of foreign crew members on deep-sea fishing vessels,” said an official with the crew and maritime affairs safety department at the Busan Regional Office of Oceans and Fisheries.

Conflicts over wage discrimination for foreign crew members can also lead to crimes.

The minimum wage for South Korean crew members defined by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries is 1.64 million won (US$1,420) per month as of this year. In accordance with the Seafarers’ Act, the minimum wage for foreign crew members is determined through a collective agreement between the shipowners‘ association and the labor union.

As of this year, the Korea Overseas Fisheries Association (established by deep-sea fishing companies) has set the average monthly minimum wage at US$614 for foreign crew members with at least 36 months of experience and at US$457 for foreign crew members with less experience than that.

While wages vary with the fishing company, foreign crew members on deep-sea fishing vessels reportedly make around 1 million won (US$867) a month.

Since there are no limits on working hours or overtime pay in the deep-sea fishing industry, South Korean crew members are eligible for a performance bonus that is paid out depending on the ship’s catch. But foreign crew members are only paid a monthly salary based on the minimum wage. This is a system that is bound to breed resentment among the foreign crew members who work alongside South Korean crew members.

By Kim Young-dong, Busan correspondent

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