By Kim Ji-soo
The government sent a second message to North Korea through the Red Cross on Friday, demanding the early repatriation of the abducted South Korean fishing boat and the sailors who were onboard.
The message comes as Pyongyang on Thursday affirmed for the first time in nearly two weeks that it had seized Daeseungho in waters off the East Sea.
Lee Jong-joo, spokeswoman for the South’s Unification Ministry said the message was sent to its Red Cross counterpart in the North, urging once again “that (the North) promptly send back our boat and its crew in accordance with international law and in a humanitarian spirit.”
The 41-ton squid fishing boat, Daeseungho was seized on Aug. 8 while apparently operating in a joint fishing area in the waters off the east coast. The boat had seven crew members; four South Korean and three Chinese nationals.
The North said that the fishing boat violated their exclusive economic zone. The seizure was made against the backdrop of heightened tensions between the two Koreas since the March 26 sinking of the South Korean frigate Cheonan, in which 46 sailors lost their lives.