N. Korea says seized S. Korean boat illegally intruded into its waters

SEOUL, Aug. 1 (Yonhap) -- North Korea's state media said Saturday it had seized a
South Korean vessel for illegally entering its territory in the East Sea and that
an investigation is underway, repeating a fax message sent by the North Korean
military a day earlier.
"A patrol ship of the Navy of the Korean People's Amy captured one ship of South
Korea on July 30 when it illegally intruded deep into the DPRK (North Korea)
territorial waters in the East Sea of Korea," the official Korean Central News
Agency said.
"A relevant institution is conducting a concrete investigation into it at
present," it said, without elaborating.
The same announcement was made a day earlier by the North Korean military, which
sent a fax message through an inter-Korean military communication line to South
Korea.
The 29-ton squid-fishing boat, carrying four fishermen, was hauled away by a
North Korean patrol vessel to an eastern port in the communist country early
Thursday morning after straying 13 km past the inter-Korean maritime border.
Seoul officials suspect the boat either did not have a satellite navigation
device or that it malfunctioned.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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