South Korea called in China's ambassador on Tuesday to lodge a formal complaint over the recent sinking of a Coast Guard boat by a Chinese vessel illegally fishing in its waters, the foreign ministry said.

Deputy foreign minister Kim Hyong-zhin summoned Ambassador Qiu Guohong to his office to protest the incident that took place late last week and demanded efforts to prevent a recurrence, according to the ministry.

The Coast Guard said that a 4.5-ton speed boat that was engaged in an operation to capture fishing boats operating illegally in waters off the country's west coast was sunk on Friday when a larger Chinese vessel rear-ended it.

There were no injuries or casualties from theincident. The Coast Guard sees it as an "intentional" collision and placed the Chinese boat that escaped on its wanted list.

The summons came after the government brought in China's consul general in Seoul on Sunday to express its grievances to Chinese authorities over the incident.

On Monday, China's foreign ministry urged South Korea to take a "cool-headed" approach in conducting an investigation into the incident, suggesting that it does not want it to hurt bilateral diplomatic relations.  (Yonhap)