South Korea will return on Friday three North Korean fishermen who had drifted on a boat across the countries’ tense western sea border about a month ago, an official said.

The fishermen were rescued by the South Korean Navy on Dec. 3 near the island of Yeonpyeong in the West Sea, Unification Ministry spokesman Chun Hae-sung said in a briefing.

The island was the site of an attack by North Korean artillery units on Nov. 23, which killed four South Korean people, including two civilians.

“They have expressed their wish to return to the North, and we’re thereby repatriating them today,” Chun said of the North’s fishermen.

The South Korean Red Cross confirmed the planned return, saying the repatriation will take place at 2 p.m. through the village of Panmunjeom straddling the countries.

Another North Korean remains under questioning in the South after he also drifted across the West Sea border on a boat on Christmas Day. Chun would not say whether he also wanted to return home.

The two Koreas remain technically at war after the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce rather than a peace treaty. Their citizens are not allowed to travel to the other side without government approval, and their land border is among the world’s most heavily fortified. 

(Yonhap News)