Decision ID: 001028

In April 1999 the 1971 Fund Executive Committee noted that the Korean Court of first instance had rendered judgements in relation to claims by fishing boat operators who had not held proper licenses. The Committee recalled that the Fund had objected to the claims on the grounds that income form unlicensed or unregistered fishing was illegal income and that claims in respect of such fishing were inadmissible. The Committee noted that the Court had taken into consideration the original purpose of the law requiring licenses, the degree of blameworthiness of the claimant and the degree if illegality of the act, on a case by case basis. It was noted that the Court had held that because of the short period of the loss, the income form the unlicensed or unregistered fishing could not be considered illegal income and had therefore awarded compensation using the same basis of assessment that had been used by the Fund to evaluate claims in respect of licensed fishing boat operators. The Committee decided that, since there were no extenuating circumstances in respect of the claims under consideration, the Fund should pursue its appeal on this point.