He said two Korean companies have agreed to set up fishing harbours and maintain them for five years.

"This project will save money for the Sri Lankan government. A project will be commenced in March with Korean assistance to develop the Kirinda fishing harbour," Wedaarachchi said at a media briefing in Colombo yesterday.

State Minister Wedaarachchi said Korea has also offered two scholarships for post graduate degrees for Sri Lankans.

Advertisements in this regard have already appeared in newspapers to select suitable candidates. Another project will be commenced in March to construct two training centres in Sri Lanka to train fishermen who will be employed in Korea. One hundred new houses will be given to fisher families with the support of Housing and Construction Minister Sajith Premadasa, he said.

Korean assistance will be provided to commence a project to export sea weeds, the state minister said. He said sea weeds in the Northern Sri Lanka sea are being destroyed by illegal Indian fishing boats.

Two new fishing harbours will be constructed in the North with Korean assistance. Over 600 Sri Lankans sent as fishermen to Korea had run away as they were not from fishing areas in the country and they were not aware about fishing techniques, Wedaarachchi said.

"I will make arrangements to send genuine Sri Lankan fishermen to Korea," he added.