Two coastguard were stabbed during a confrontation with sailors aboard the Chinese vessel in the Yellow Sea near the North Korean border, the official said.

"One officer is dead. There is another one injured. There are no other injuries," a coastguard officer told Reuters. "It happened in the EEZ (exclusive economic zone), outside the territorial waters, but it's still illegal fishing."

Illegal fishing by Chinese fisherman is common in South Korean waters, the AFP reported, and clashes are becoming increasingly violent.

From Reuters:

Some 2,600 Chinese fishing boats have been caught illegally fishing in the South Korean EEZ since 2006 and nearly 800 Chinese fishermen have been arrested, [South Korea's] Yonhap news agency reported.

In the first 11 months of this year, some 440 Chinese fishing boats were caught illegally fishing in South Korean waters, up 46 percent from a year earlier, it said.

The vessel and its nine sailors have been seized by the South Korean coastguard.