The South Korean military says it rescued three North Korean boats and seven North Korean people near Baengnyeong Island in the Yellow Sea on Thursday.

A military official said the fishing vessels had drifted south of the Northern Limit Line and two were on the verge of sinking when they were found. The official said the other ship was provided fuel and returned to the North with its three crewmen. The four North Koreans from the sinking vessels are being questioned by the South Korean military.

The JCS official said South Korean authorities confirmed that the fishermen that were sent back had no intention to defect to the South, and the government's policy is to return North Korean ships on humanitarian grounds if they did not intentionally cross the inter-Korean border.

The official said it’s currently unknown why several North Korean ships crossed the border on the same day.