"Around 9:20 a.m. today, the ship and the eight crewmen were transferred to the North Korean side across a transfer point in the East Sea," the ministry official said. "A North Korean tug boat and patrol ship were waiting there to take the ship and its crewmen," the official noted.

A day earlier South Korea communicated the repatriation plan to the North through the South Korea-based United Nations Command's armistice commission, which is in charge of supervising the implementation of the inter-Korean Armistice.

South Korea has rescued North Korean ships gone astray on a total of six occasions so far this year, with 21 of all rescued North Korean crewmen sent back home while two were allowed to stay in the South, according to the ministry. (Yonhap)