A group of North Koreans presumed to be a family reportedly crossed the Northern Limit Line(NLL) in western waters to defect to South Korea early this month.

The South Korean military reportedly found a North Korean fishing boat heading south toward the NLL, the de facto maritime border with the North, on the night of May 6 and dispatched naval forces to conduct an inspection.

A group of North Koreans presumed to be a family aboard the fishing boat reportedly expressed their intention to defect.

The military, the police and the National Intelligence Service are conducting a joint investigation to find out how they escaped North Korea.