Pyongyang said it will probe into the incident of its seizing a South Korean fishing vessel and return it to Seoul, South Korea's Unification Ministry said on July 30.
According to unification ministry spokesperson Lee Jong-joo, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) said it received the South Korean message, and will further check the situation.
The DPRK sent the response through an inter-Korean telephone contact, which is held twice daily under a maritime agreement between the two nations, local media said.
Earlier in the morning, a 29-ton South Korean fishing boat named "800", carrying four crew members, was taken by a DPRK patrol boat after crossing its border in the East Sea.
The squid boat seems to have had a malfunction in its satellite navigation system, South Korean officials said.
Upon receiving the news, the South Korean government sent a message to maritime authorities in Pyongyang to ask for releasing the crew members and the boat immediately, the officials said.
