North Korea has seized a South Korean fishing boat off the peninsula's east coast, Seoul's coastguard said Sunday, amid high tensions between the two sides over a major naval exercise by the South. The boat with four South Korean and three Chinese crewmen was detained while presumably operating near the North's exclusive economic zone in the Sea of Japan (East Sea) the coastguard said in a statement.
It was being towed Sunday to the North's north-eastern port of Songjin. "We urge North Korean authorities to handle this case in accordance with international norms and practices and return the ship and the crew at the earliest possible date," the coastguard said. It was not immediately clear whether the 41-ton Daeseung 55 was suspected of illegal fishing. The seizure was reported on the fourth day of the five-day exercise in the Yellow Sea on the other side of the peninsula. The drill has stirred anger and threats of retaliation from the North.