A North Korean vessel has returned to the North after crossing the de-facto inter-Korean maritime border in the East Sea on Wednesday.

Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff(JCS) said Wednesday that the vessel was spotted and reported by a South Korean fishing boat at 3:40 a.m. Wednesday some 21 kilometers south of the Northern Limit Line(NLL).

The JCS said "a Navy ship was dispatched to the scene to search the boat, and found it had a problem with its navigation and the crew had no intention to defect to South Korea."

The JCS said that, after verification, it evicted the North Korean vessel into the north of the NLL at 7:10 a.m.

The JCS said Seoul's military is maintaining a high level of combat readiness and keeping close tabs on North Korean activities.