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Associated Press

Two South Koreans and 15 Russians returned to South Korea on Sunday, following more than a week of detention in North Korea after their fishing boat drifted into North Korean waters.
The crew members were aboard a Russia-flagged fishing boat when it was detained by North Korea on July 17 after leaving South Korea’s eastern Sokcho port a day earlier.
Seoul’s Unification Ministry said in a statement the crew arrived aboard the same boat at Sokcho on Sunday, a day after they left the North’s Wonsan port.
Seoul officials did not immediately explain how they were detained, treated and repatriated, saying North Korea has not informed South Korea of its decision to release the crew.
US urges ‘no more provocations’ after North Korea test fires new missiles
The ministry said it learned of the boat’s departure from Wonsan on Saturday through various channels that it refused to disclose.
The ministry statement said it “positively” assessed the North’s repatriation of the crew members.
In a Facebook message, the Russian Embassy in Pyongyang said the “coordinated work of the Russian diplomatic agency” led to their release.

It said the ship’s captain was informed of the crew’s planned release 3.5 hours before their departure from Wonsan.
An unidentified crew member told Russia’s state news agency Tass that the ship was released without being fined. “The full crew is aboard the ship, everyone is feeling well,” he was quoted as saying.
The Tass report said the ship was heading to the waters between the Korean peninsula and Japan to catch crabs when it was detained. It cited the North Korean foreign ministry representatives as saying the ship was detained for “violating the rules of entry and stay in North Korea”.
Pyongyang fires new type of short-range ballistic missiles, South Korea says
Ties between the Koreas remain cool amid a lack of progress in US-led diplomacy aimed at ending North Korea’s nuclear programme.
Seoul said North Korea is holding six other South Koreans it has arrested in recent years on anti-state and other charges.
Fishing boats drift across the Koreas’ eastern sea border in both directions.
Earlier on Sunday, South Korea’s military said a North Korean wooden fishing boat carrying three people crossed the maritime border on Saturday night, prompting a South Korean navy ship to tow it to a South Korean port.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the North Koreans were under an investigation. South Korea typically returns North Korean fishermen unless they are suspected of espionage. But it also lets them resettle in the South if they want, often triggering angry response from the North.


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North Korea

South Koreans, Russians returned days after fishing boat drifts to North Korea

Russian-flagged fishing ship Xiang Hai Lin 8 arrives in Sokcho, South Korea. Photo: EPA-EFE

epa07745484 Russian-flagged fishing ship Xiang Hai Lin 8 arrives at the port in Sokcho, Gangwon Province, northeast of Seoul, South Korea, 28 July 2019, after being released from North Korea the previous day. Two South Korean fishermen, along with 15 Russian crew members, returned home safe on the day, 11 days after they were detained by North Korean coast guard for 'violating the rules of entry and stay' on July 17. EPA-EFE/YONHAP SOUTH KOREA OUT

Escape from North Korea: the Underground Railroad and the shadowy figure who guides refugees to safety

Faith found her ticket to freedom on the Underground Railroad, helped by a shadowy figure who guided her, and hundreds of other refugees, to safety. Illustration: Adolfo Arranz

Postmag July 28, 2019 North Korea feature Illustration by Adolfo Arranz

Photo sheets of the North Korean refugees helped by the North Korea Refugees Human Rights Association of Korea are displayed in Seoul, South Korea, June 11, 2019. Picture taken June 11, 2019. REUTERS/Josh Smith

North Koreans cry and scream in a display of mourning for their leader Kim Jong Il at the foot of a giant statue of his father Kim Il Sung in Pyongyang, North Korea, after Kim Jong Ils death was announced Monday, Dec. 19, 2011. North Korea's news agency reported that he had died at 8:30 a.m. Saturday after having a heart attack on a train, adding that he had been treated for cardiac and cerebrovascular diseases for a long time. He was 69. (AP Photo/APTN)

The countryside of northern Vietnam, into which Faith crossed. Photo: Shutterstock

To North Koreans like Faith, South Korea's cities look impossibly futuristic. Photo: Shutterstock

A huge flag-shaped painting featuring the late North Korean President Kim Il Sung is decorated over a podium where leaders of the communist country are seated during an annual meeting to mark the late leader's birthday at the People's Palace of Culture in Pyongyang Monday, April 14, 2003. North Korea is celebrating the late leader's 91st birthday on April 15. Kim's son and current leader Kim Jong Il didn't show up at the meeting. (AP Photo/Korea News Agency) ** JAPAN OUT ONLINE OUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY **

epa06939745 A South Korean sentry post (front) and North Koren sentry post (above) face each other across the inter-Korean border near the demilitarized zone (DMZ) on Paju in Gyeonggi province, South Korea, 10 August 2018. South and North Korea will hold a high-level meeting on 13 August on the northern side of the truce village of Panmunjom to review implementation of their previous summit agreements and discuss preparations for a new meeting between their leaders, the unification ministry said on 09 August. EPA-EFE/JEON HEON-KYUN

15 Russians, two South Koreans detained after boat drifts into North Korean waters

A North Korean flag seen atop a 160m tower in the North Korean village of Gijungdongseen. Photo: AP

AP10ThingsToSee - A fisherman is silhouetted against the lit skyline of Wonsan, Monday, July 28, 2014 in North Korea. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)

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The Russian-flagged fishing boat was detained for ‘violating the rules of entry and stay in North Korea’, officials in the North said
The Russian embassy in Pyongyang said the ‘coordinated work of the Russian diplomatic agency’ led to the crew’s release


The Russian embassy in Pyongyang said the ‘coordinated work of the Russian diplomatic agency’ led to the release of a crew on a fishing boat that was held by North Korea for over a week.


Russia

South Korea

South Koreans, Russians returned days after fishing boat drifts to North Korea

The Russian-flagged fishing boat was detained for ‘violating the rules of entry and stay in North Korea’, officials in the North said The Russian embassy in Pyongyang said the ‘coordinated work of the Russian diplomatic agency’ led to the crew’s release

The Russian-flagged fishing boat was detained for ‘violating the rules of entry and stay in North Korea’, officials in the North said

The Russian embassy in Pyongyang said the ‘coordinated work of the Russian diplomatic agency’ led to the crew’s release