N Korea 'seizes S Korea vessel'
Posted by Aswana Thursday, 30 July 2009 11:23
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A South Korean fishing boat has been towed away by a North Korean patrol boat off the peninsula's east coast, South Korean officials say.
The military says the ship may have strayed north of the maritime border due to a navigation system error.
The four-man crew had been fishing for squid at the time.
The incident comes as relations between the rival North and South states are tense over the North's nuclear and missile programmes.
An official, who spoke on customary condition of anonymity, told the Associated Press that South Korea had already asked the North to release the boat.
The North had not yet responded to the request, he added.
"A 30-ton fishing boat was being towed by a North Korean patrol boat," an unnamed official was quoted as telling South Korea's Yonhap news agency.
"It is presumed that the fishing boat was sailing off its destined course because its GPS was out of order," he added.
A South Korean worker who was based at a joint industrial project has been held for almost four months by the North, accused of insulting its political system.
Two US journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, who were seized along North Korea's border with China in March are also still being held.
A BBC correspondent in Seoul says that a South Korean boat that drifted into the North's waters in 2006 was returned after 18 days.
