The 29 Chinese fishermen and three boats seized in the Yellow Sea by unidentified North Koreans are free and have arrived in China, reports say.
The North Korean foreign ministry notified the Chinese embassy in Pyongyang on Sunday that the men were free, said Xinhua news agency.
They arrived in the northeast port city of Dalian on Monday, it said.
The group were seized on 8 May in the Yellow Sea, which lies between China and North Korea.
The men were in “sound health condition with sufficient food and healthcare”, Jiang Yaxian, a counsellor at the Chinese embassy in Pyongyang, told Xinhua news agency.
The captors had asked for payment in return for the release of the men and boats, Chinese media reported, but Xinhua’s report did not say whether payment had been made.
It remains unclear if the boats were seized by North Korean authorities or kidnappers, as some reports have suggested.
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