(Yonhap)
South Korea said the five fishermen expressed their wish to go back to North Korea. The five fishermen were rescued by a South Korean coast guard vessel in the East Sea on Monday after their ship ran adrift due to engine problems. (Yonhap)

South Korea handed over five North Korean fishermen to the communist country on Saturday, five days after they were picked up from a boat drifting off South Korea's eastern coast, an official said. The repatriation took place at the border village of Panmunjom that separates the two Koreas around 11:30 a.m., according to the unification ministry official.