MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Eight North Korean fishermen rescued from three boats that were drifting in the Sea of Japan for weeks were sent back home, the spokesman of South Korea’s Unification Ministry, Jeong Joon-hee, said on Monday.
"Two North Korean patrol ships and two tugboats appeared near the NLL [Northern Limit Line], and the sailors were sent to the North," the spokesman said during his press briefing as cited by Yonhap news agency.
The sailors were found last week drifting in the Sea of Japan after having been stranded for several months. All eight men had expressed a wish to return to North Korea, the ministry underlined.
The last time such repatriation happened was December 2015, when three stranded North Korean fishermen were sent home.
