The Japanese coast guard continues to search for more missing crew members
Japan on Thursday handed over three North Korean crew members who were rescued from a capsized fishing boat to a North Korean vessel that will return them home, officials said.
The three men were rescued by Japan’s coast guard on Wednesday while floating on the small wooden vessel off the northern coast of the Noto Peninsula, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters.
The men expressed their wish to return home while interviewed on a Japanese coast guard boat and were handed over later Thursday to another North Korean fishing vessel at sea, said coast guard spokesman Satoru Nanjo.
Coast guard rescuers are still searching for their fellow crew members believed to be missing.
The three told Japanese officials they came with 12 other crew members from North Korea to fish and their boat capsized just as they were heading home, Nanjo said.
