[Yonhap News Photo]
Eight North Korean fishermen were sent home Friday in a sea operation between South and North Korean patrol ships that followed an exchange of information using a loudspeaker in the border truce village of Panmunjom.
The handover of the fishermen rescued in southern waters last week was made near the sea border off the east coast when two North Korean patrol ships and two tugboats turned up without any prior notice, the South's unification ministry said.
"They've just appeared there" without any prior contact, ministry spokesman Jeong Joon-hee said, adding South Korean vessels had been waiting near the maritime border.
With cross-border hotlines turned off, a South Korean official turned up in Panmunjom last Thursday and used a loudspeaker to read a message on the repatriation. A North Korean soldier carrying a surveillance camcorder taped it.
In Panmunjom and other areas, the two Koreas have maintained liaison offices and hotlines for an exchange of messages and personnel, but all cross-border exchanges and contact remained cut off due to high military tensions caused by North Korea's nuclear and missile programs.
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
