Coast Guard vessel is seen in this undated file photo. Yonhap

Two North Koreans aboard a wooden boat drifting in the Yellow Sea were discovered earlier this month and are now under questioning, military officials said Friday.

The military took the two men into custody after a P-3 maritime patrol aircraft discovered the boat in waters 170 kilometers west of the Eocheong Island, south of the Northern Limit Line (NLL), the de facto inter-Korean maritime border, on March 7.

The two men are believed to have likely crossed into South Korean waters accidentally and haven't clearly expressed their intent to defect to South Korea, as they have been under a joint probe with authorities.

The government is currently reviewing measures to communicate with North Korea on their possible repatriation if they wish to return, considering inter-Korean hotlines have remained severed since April 2023. (Yonhap)