(MENAFN- QNA) South Korea sent home five North Korean fishermen Thursday who were rescued while drifting on a vessel in waters off its east coast, the Unification Ministry said.
On Tuesday, South Korea's Coast Guard rescued the North Koreans on a ship that was drifting near the island of Ulleung in the East Sea. They were allowed to head back to the North after fixing a broken engine, but they were again rescued on Wednesday morning as they were found drifting in South Korean waters, according to South Korea's (Yonhap) News Agency.
The ministry said that on humanitarian grounds, the government repatriated them to the North across the Northern Limit Line, the de facto inter-Korean sea border, as the fishermen aboard the ship expressed their wish to return home.
The ship had gone adrift from a North Korean port in South Hamkyong Province as its engine seemed to have broken down, it said.
Despite tensions on a divided peninsula, the two Koreas have a practice of repatriating civilians who accidentally land in each other's territory.
The move marked the second time this year that South Korea has repatriated North Korean sailors found in the South's waters.
In late February, the South returned home two North Korean fishermen who were drifting in the East Sea.
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