North Korea was found to have issued a distress call to South Korea when two vessels carrying 22 North Koreans went missing earlier this month.

A government official said Tuesday that North Korean authorities had made the distress call through the inter-Korean naval hotline around 8:20 a.m. on February eighth.

The South Korean Navy rescued the 22 North Koreans, who were found drifting on two rubber boats in South Korean waters around five that afternoon.

According to the official, North Korean authorities asked the South to return the two vessels, to which the South said it would handle the matter in a humanitarian way.

The South sent back the 22 North Koreans through the truce village of Panmunjeom the same day.

In August of 2005, the two Koreas opened a naval hotline as agreed in working-level talks on maritime cooperation the previous year.

The cable communications network linking the navies of the two sides will report accidents, injuries and other sea emergencies or convey requests and approvals for ship passage.