South Korea says it will do all it can to swiftly repatriate the North Koreans who have expressed wishes to return home after their boat drifted across the inter-Korean border into South Korean waters last month.

South Korea will contact the North via the liaison office at the border village of Panmunjeom on Monday to request that North Korea agree to the return of the 27 North Koreans.

North Korea has thus far expressed an unwillingness to accept the return of the 27 people, demanding that all 31 of the North Koreans who were on the boat, including four who have expressed intentions to stay in South Korea, be returned.

In regards to the four who hope to stay in the South, Seoul said it will make clear to Pyongyang that the four made the decision to stay in the South of their own volition and were not coerced.

South Korea is worried that if it returns all 31 North Koreans, the four who expressed their intentions to stay in South Korea could be punished by Pyongyang.

The South believes the North could eventually agree to accept the repatriation of the 27 North Koreans, given similar incidents in the past.