S.Korea returns rescued DPRK sailors, vessels back home

South Korea on Monday returned back eight sailors and two vessels of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) that had been rescued by the country's coast guard, Seoul's unification ministry said.

Unification Ministry spokesman Jeong Joon-hee told a press briefing that the DPRK sailors and ships were returned back to their home country earlier in the morning in the open sea off the east coast.

Four DPRK patrol ships and towing vessels towed away the two ships and eight sailors, who were rescued by the South Korean coast guard last week as they floated along in the South Korean east coast for engine malfunctioning.

All of the eight DPRK fishermen had expressed the will to return to their home country.

South Korea had sought to contact the DPRK side through the truce village of Panmunjom in the inter-Korean land border and via military hotlines to discuss when and how to return the rescued sailors back home.

All communication hotlines between the two Koreas have been cut off by the DPRK, after South Korea shut down the inter-Korean factory park in the DPRK's border town of Kaesong in retaliation for Pyongyang's fourth nuclear test in January and the launch in February of a long-range rocket.

Last week, the South Korean authorities informed the DPRK of its plan to return back the sailors on Monday through loudspeaker in the Panmunjom village. Endit