A North Korean man rescued adrift in the Yellow Sea last Sunday has been repatriated to the North as he wished. 

The Unification Ministry said it handed over the man in his 30s to the North at the truce village of Panmunjeom at 2 p.m. on Friday.

The North Korean was rescued by a South Korean patrol ship on Sunday afternoon while drifting in waters one-point-three kilometers east of the South Korean island of Daecheong near the maritime border with the North. 

He expressed his intention to return to the North while being investigated.

He told the South Korean authorities that he was swept away in tidal currents when digging for shellfish in the sea off Ryongyon County in South Hwanghae Province.