15 Russians, two South Koreans detained after boat drifts into North Korean waters
- The crew members were aboard a Russia-flagged fishing boat when it was detained by North Korea, Seoul officials said
- South Korea said it was working with Russian authorities to secure the freedom of its citizens
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Two South Koreans and 15 Russians have been held in North Korea for a week after their boat drifted into North Korean waters, Seoul officials said on Wednesday.
South Korea’s unification ministry said the ship named Xiang Hai Lin 8 left the South Korean port of Sokcho on July 16.
North Korean border guards took control of the ship belonging to the Russian North-Eastern Fishing Company the next day.
Pyongyang has not responded to Seoul’s repeated calls for the repatriation of the two South Koreans, both men in their 50s and 60s, according to the ministry.
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The South Korean ministry statement said it would try to secure the freedom of the South Koreans through a close cooperation with Russian authorities and communication with Pyongyang.
It added the South Koreans were currently safe but did not provide further details.
In a post on its Facebook page, the Russian embassy in Pyongyang on Wednesday said: “According to the North Korean foreign ministry, the ship was detained for ‘violating rules of entry and stay’.”
Russian embassy officials met the Russian captain and a deputy who were staying at a hotel in the North Korean city of Wonsan, together with the two South Korean sailors, it said.
The rest of the crew is still on the ship in the port of Wonsan.
“All the crew members are in good health,” it said, adding that “the clarification of what happened” was underway.
The deputy director of the North-Eastern Fishing Company, Sergei Sedler, said the vessel was fishing for crab and travelled from South Korea to the Sea of Japan when it was detained some 100km from the North Korean border.
“Twice a day they are questioning and searching them in a very harsh manner,” he told Kommersant Daily, referring to the crew.
South Korea fires 360 warning shots at Russian, Chinese planes
The news came as Seoul and Moscow are squabbling over a South Korean announcement that a Russian military plane violated its airspace on Tuesday, prompting South Korean fighter jets to fire hundreds of warning shots. Russia has denied it violated South Korea’s airspace.
North Korea is holding six other South Koreans it has detained in recent years for alleged attempts to build underground churches inside the North and other anti-state charges, according to the Unification Ministry.
Ties between the Koreas improved last year after North Korea entered into talks on its nuclear programme.
But North Korea has recently reduced its exchanges with South Korea and requested it to stop mediating between Pyongyang and Washington amid a lack of recent progress in the US-North Korean nuclear diplomacy.
