Two North Korean soldiers are being treated in a hospital after they were rescued by the South Korean Navy in waters off the country's east coast.

The two men were found late Saturday night while drifting in a three-ton wooden boat in waters some 40 kilometers off Yangyang, Gangwon Province.

The two were immediately taken to a nearby hospital after being found, with one of the men in critical condition.

Military officials believe the men departed from a North Korean port some time before last Friday.

Officials plan to question the North Koreans, once they are well enough, about their identity and how they floated into South Korean waters.