SEOUL, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's military guided back a merchant vessel of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), after the ship crossed the inter-Korean maritime border southward because of an engine problem, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) of South Korea said Wednesday.
The JCS said in a statement that it detected and tracked an unidentified vessel, which crossed the inter-Korean sea boundary in the western waters and sailed southward, at about 6:40 a.m. local time.
The vessel was confirmed some six hours later to have been a DPRK merchant ship, and the South Korean military issued warning broadcasts and fired warning shots to guide the vessel into deep waters westward.
The trespassing happened because of what appeared to be the bad weather and engine problem, the JSC said.
The JSC added that the DPRK ship was moving slowly on its own power.
