North Korea said Monday it will release the South Korean fishing boat and its crewmembers that it captured last month for violating the communist state's exclusive economic zone, Yonhap reported.
The official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said the decision to release the 55 Daesung has been made "from the compatriotic and humanitarian points of view."
Apparently referring to the four South Korean and three Chinese crewmembers, the KCNA said the fishermen admitted to having trespassed in the exclusive economic zone, calling it "an intolerable infringement upon the sovereignty" of North Korea.