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S Korea fishing boat held by DPRK: official

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-07-30 09:33

SEOUL: A South Korean fishing boat likely crossed a maritime border  into the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) early on Thursday and is being towed by a patrol boat to a port in the north, a South Korean military official said.

Related readings:  DPRK drops six-party talks, open to new dialogue  SKorean: US-DPRK interaction unlikely at ARF  Chinese experts: New move on DPRK 'proper, necessary'  US calls for amnesty for American journalists jailed in DPRK  UN Security Council condemns DPRK's missile launches

The incident took place off the east coast of the Korean peninsula, an official with South Korea's Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said.

Contrary to earlier reports it had been captured, the fishing boat with an unidentified number of crew members on board likely experienced a malfunction of its satellite navigation system and strayed north of the maritime border with the communist state, the official said.

The official said it is not likely a case of a DPRK vessel venturing into the South and capturing the ship.

The incident comes as a South Korean worker has been held for more than 120 days for supposedly insulting the Pyongyang's political system at a factory park jointly run by the two Koreas.