Seoul – South Korea requested North Korea on Sunday to assist seek for and return a lacking navy sailor believed to have drifted throughout the de facto inter-Korean maritime border.
The request follows stories that the sailor went lacking on Sunday morning whereas a vessel was on patrol off South Korea’s jap coast close to the Northern Restrict Line.
“A sailor aboard a South Korean navy vessel conducting a safety mission within the East Sea went lacking on the morning of July 12 and is believed to have drifted north of the NLL,” Seoul’s Unification Ministry stated in a short assertion, referring to the physique of water also called the Sea of Japan.
“Because the South Korean Navy is at the moment trying to find the lacking sailor, we request North Korea’s cooperation, on humanitarian grounds, within the search and the person’s return,” it added.
The sailor holds the rank of seaman apprentice, Yonhap Information Company reported.
Protection Minister Ahn Gyu-back additionally instructed officers to “make each effort to rescue the lacking serviceman as shortly and safely as attainable“, the Protection Ministry stated in a press release, with out offering additional particulars.
The enchantment comes as President Lee Jae Myung has sought to ease tensions with the nuclear-armed North by pursuing dialogue and confidence-building measures after years of strained relations.
Lee has taken a dovish strategy to North Korea since taking workplace in June 2025 in stark distinction to his predecessor’s hawkish coverage.
Pyongyang, nevertheless, has not responded to Seoul’s repeated overtures whereas deepening ties with Moscow. It lately hosted Chinese language chief Xi Jinping in its capital for a summit.
Official stories of the summit made no point out of denuclearisation.
