4 S. Korean fishermen detained in N. Korea released

(ATTN: UPDATES with fishermen's arrival)
SEOUL, Aug. 29 (Yonhap) -- A South Korean fishing boat with four crew members
aboard headed home Saturday after being released from 30 days of detention in
North Korea, South Korean maritime police said.
The fishing boat, the Yeonan-ho, was handed over a South Korean patrol boat
waiting at the eastern sea border at 5 p.m., South Korea's maritime police said
in a news release.
North Korea had insisted that the boat illegally intruded into its territorial
waters, but the communist state said Friday it will set free the fishermen on
Saturday.
The 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
Korean War ended with a truce, not a peace treaty.
ygkim@yna.co.kr
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