(2nd LD) N. Korea to free 4 S. Korean fishermen

(ATTN: UPDATES with family response in paras 4-5)
SEOUL, Aug. 28 (Yonhap) -- North Korea will release four South Korean fishermen
who were detained last month after their boat accidentally drifted into northern
waters, Seoul officials said Friday.
"North Korea notified us that the Yeonanho and its crew members will be handed
over to our side on the East Sea at 5 p.m. Saturday," said the Unification
Ministry which handles relations with Pyongyang. "Albeit belated, it's welcome
news. Such an accident should never happen again."
The squid-fishing boat was hauled into an eastern North Korean port on July 30
after straying about 11km into northern waters due to a faulty navigation system.
Families of the fishermen were jubilant over the news.
"I am overjoyed and I don't know how I spent the past month," Lee Ah-na, the wife
of the boat's skipper, told Yonhap News Agency from the eastern port of Geojin
near the inter-Korean border, where the vessel is registered.
South Korean authorities have called on North Korea to release the detained
fishermen on humanitarian grounds.
The ministry's announcement came hours after the two Koreas agreed to hold a
fresh round of reunions late September and early October for families separated
by the Korean War.
The planned release marks the latest in a string of North Korea's conciliatory
gestures this month. Pyongyang sent a surprise delegation last week to the
funeral of the late former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, who held the
first inter-Korean summit with Kim Jong-il in 2000.
North Korea also released a detained South Korean worker who was stationed in an
inter-Korean industrial estate, lifted cross-border traffic restrictions and
restored a cross-border hotline.
South and North Korea remain technically in a state of war since the 1950-53
conflict ended with a truce, not a peace treaty.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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