S.Korea to return home 5 DPRK sailors rescued

South Korea's Unification Ministry said Monday that it will return home five rescued sailors from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) as they asked for coming back to Pyongyang.

Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Eui-do told a press briefing that the five DPRK sailors were saved from the fishing boat, which was sinking on June 13 in waters off the easternmost island of Dokdo.

Those sailors, who asked for their comeback to Pyongyang, will be sent to the North side at 4 p.m. through the border village of Panmunjeom, the spokesman said. In late May, three DPRK sailors were rescued by the South Korean naval ship in waters off Ulleung Island, around 120 km east of the Korean Peninsula.

Among the three, one sailor was sent to Pyongyang as the remaining two asked for remaining in Seoul.